Will Cain Country - Alex Bruesewitz, First Sergeant Eric Geressy, & Staff Sergeant Cliff Meros: Inside The Trump 'Podcast Campaign' & Why Pete Hegseth Needs To Run The Pentagon

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Story #1: Heroes are villains and villains are heroes: Why are the Left reversing the roles for Daniel Penny and the United Healthcare CEO murderer? Will has a couple of ideas.  Story #2: President-elect Donald Trump was approached a few months ago by CEO of X Strategies LLC & 2024 Trump Campaign Advisor, Alex Bruesewitz on ideas for a podcast strategy. He joins the show to give the inside details on how the "podcast campaign" came to be and eventually delivered a resounding victory.  Story #3: Why should Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth be confirmed for the job? Will is joined by men who served with him who are passionate about what he would do in the role, First Sergeant Eric Geressy & Staff Sergeant Cliff Meros. Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail] Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show! Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One. Heroes are villains and villains are heroes. As we're being told today, the murderer, the assassin of the United Health Care CEO, is a hero. But Daniel Penny, the subway vigilante that helps riders across New York City, well, he's a villain. Two, A few months ago, Donald Trump was approached on a golf course about the idea of appearing on Joe Rogan, Theo Vaughn, on appearing on podcasts that appear to young men. The response was, talk to Baron, talk to Baron Trump. The man who came up with that idea and pitched it to Donald Trump, Alex Brousowitz, today here on the Wilcane show. Three, there's a petition going around from men who fought in battle. and in war alongside Pete Hegset.

Two of those, non-commissioned officers, join us today to talk about the man they knew, the man nominated, as Secretary of Defense. It is the Will Kane Show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. Terrestrial radio market-to-market some two dozen radio stations across the United States of American.

If you're listening, you can always subscribe to the Will Kane show on Spotify or Apple. Listen to it on your own schedule. You can also join us every Monday through Thursday right here at 12 o'clock Eastern Time at Fox News, YouTube. We have a busy show today with some fascinating guests. I want to hear about the moment. I want to hear about the idea, the generation of perhaps the movement that led to the re-election of Donald Trump as president, his circuit of podcast, of young men audiences, of having the opportunity to share his personality, I want to hear about where that idea came from.

And we're going to get to do that with the man himself, Alex Broussowitz, coming up here on the Will Kane show. But we are in a weird moment in America. We are in a weird news cycle that reflects a deeper and weirder portion of our culture, where we've lost sense of who are the heroes and who are the villains. Let's get into that with story number one. Luigi Mangione, 26 years old from Maryland, was arrested yesterday outside of Altoona, Pennsylvania, for the murder of Brian Thompson,

the CEO of United Healthcare. Details are now starting to come up about who Luigi Mangione is. I'll bring the guys in New York, the Willisha, into the show, to help me work through some of the details from time to time and see what I get right. But here's what I'm led to understand.

Mangione's father was a real estate, successful businessman in the Maryland area. He owned a country club. Manjone went to an Ivy League school. I think he went to Penn. Seems pretty well educated. Seems pretty smart. Graduated valedictorian from his high school.

Was into self-help podcasts, um anxiety bought a lot of books and anxiety had hurt his back may or may not have been connected to an incident in surfing he'd been living in san francisco in hawaii there's an x-ray photo up on his social media feed showing a um showing a plate and screws going into his spine and there are some that suggests this was a moment where he definitely changed like dealing with pain when it comes to his back just changed who he was. Now is that somewhere buried there, the motivation for what he's accused of doing

in New York City, we'll have to see. But he's certainly an odd profile. It's weird to see us put together. I was with a guy this morning from Alabama, spent the last 24 hours in Alabama to Alabama Farmers Federation. Great group of people in Alabama, some 1,400 of them.

And I was with one of the guys this morning. He's like, it's just, you know, most of the time when you see stories like this, these guys come from the margins of society. They look even physically disheveled and look like they're living on the edge. It's not the case with Luigi Mangione. He seems like he's got it all going for him. He seems like if he had a health care claim denied, he'd have plenty of opportunities to find other places where to get it paid.

It's just a really odd story. And again, he's not convicted. He's not even charged yet. he is arrested and accused. But from what we know so far, it's just a really odd story that doesn't seem to add up. But it adds up for a lot of people out there on social media. It adds up to a lot of people who may be right now in the comments section. And it's weirdly is adding up to people who have been given real big jobs on the likes of

the New York Times and the Washington Post. Taylor Lorenz, who still suffers from some type of COVID hypochondria. feels comfortable enough to take her mask off and appear on Pierce Morgan and she had some really, really weird things to say last night to peers. Watch. I do believe in the sanctity of life and I think that's why I felt, along with so many other Americans,

joy, unfortunately, you know, because it feels like... Seriously? I mean... Joy that man's execution? Maybe not joy, but certainly not no. certainly not empathy because again we're watching the footage how come this make you joyful this guy's a husband he's a father and he's being gunned down in the middle of manhattan why are they're making joyful of americans that be murdered so are tens so are the tens of thousands

of americans innocent americans who died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push policies of denying care to the most vulnerable people and the many millions of Americans that have watched people that I care about suffer and in some cases die because of lack of health care. This is hard to listen to. This is hard to take. I mean, this is

I joked yesterday about tinfoil Pat wanting to destroy everything from college football the United States government. I asked, what are you going to do when it rise? What are you going to do once you destroy? And his answer was, I've got plans. I joked about you being the joker tinfoil. This is This is the Joker. This is like the Joaquin Phoenix version of the Joker. This is the elevation of evil. That's what this is. This is turning villains into heroes. Take a look at this tweet. Two days, read me this tweet. Would you that Lorenz put up about the execution of executives?

Yeah, there's a tweet about the Blue Cross Blue Shield in Connecticut, New York, and Missouri has declared it would no longer pay for anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries. And she quote tweeted that and said, and people wonder why we want these executives dead. Fascinating. You know what's just creepy about her wishcasting death and execution on corporate CEOs was the indication of we. Yeah.

She represents what she thinks is some we and she considers herself the good guy. She considers herself Joaquin Phoenix. This is not just, first of all, it is a crazy thing. Like, listen to the words of this woman. Listen to the book, you know, I don't expect you to keep up with the day-to-day life of Taylor Lorenz, but she put out, like this was like two weeks ago, some type of thing about her, is it her 50th birthday, that she wanted to assure everyone it was a COVID-safe environment and everyone would have to go through testing and wear masks and outdoors and sufficiently spaced apart. Like somebody said, like if you put that out in 2020 or 2021, you're just a hypochondriac. If you put that out in 2024, and you probably need to be institutionalized.

Like, you're a sick, crazy person. And my point is, this is the person that drew checks from the New York Times of Washington Post and told you that they were mainstream, that you were extreme, that they represented the middle of the river and you're over there on the fringe. This is the kind of person who told you that she was in touch with the voice of America. And here, after living in a COVID bubble, she's here celebrating the execution of executives. And she wasn't done. she had more to say on Pierce Morgan.

Should they all be killed, then? Should they all be killed these health care executives? Would that make you even more joyful? No, that would not. But why not? Why are you laughing? Because, peers, because it wouldn't fix the system. You seem to find the whole thing hilarious.

I find your question funny. A bloke's been murdered in the street. I don't find it funny at all. I don't find it funny that tens of thousands of Americans die every year and because they are denied life-saving health care from people like the CEO. Now, I want to fix this system. You're right.

We shouldn't be going around shooting each other with vigilante justice. No. I think that it is a good thing that this murder has led to America, really the media elites and politicians in this country paying attention to this issue

for the first time. You mentioned you couldn't understand why somebody would feel this reaction when they watched a CEO die. It's because you have not dealt, it sounds like with the American health care system in the way that millions of other Americans have. Oh my gosh, I have so many thoughts.

So first of all, I want to pick up, I want to leave behind Taylor Lorenz and pick up the American public. I want to pick up the internet comment section. I want to pick up the people that she purports to represent. I want to pick up the we. Our resident correspondent within the Brooklyn brunch circles has experienced some of the sentiment. That's what you were telling us to a days, right?

You're hearing what she's saying, although insane, is not uncommon. It's gotten to be most of my feed, and a lot of people kind of, you know, the ones that pose for, you know, the little guy and things like that. And I understand the health care system needs to be changed. But these people are saying that, you know, they're loving this guy. I mean, they're happy. They think he's a hero and these kinds of things. And I think it's pretty gross. And to see it in a feed with people I know is.

It's pretty interesting and pretty surprising, to be honest. And they're saying things like America's boyfriend, Luigi, or pray for Luigi. And free Luigi, things like that. He's coming a cult hero. Literally. They did this. Do you remember when they did this as well with the Boston bomber? Yeah.

Like cover of Rolling Stone? You know, here's what, this is what I think is going on. So, first of all, you did almost like a, you made a throat clearing statement. and mine's going to feel like throat clearing as well. What I mean by that is like gratuitous and oh, you don't really mean it. You're just saying that so you get to your real point. But that is like, I do understand that a lot of people suffer through denied claims and sky high premiums and, you know, paying for an insurance that you feel like doesn't come back

with the promise it was made and the contract that was signed. I totally understand that. But in no world do I think that's. Taylor Lorenza's world. And no world do I think that's the world of the Brooklyn brunch crew. I don't think that this is the tried and true story of classes, of class warfare, of the poor rising up against the rich. I think that there's a famous saying, if you want to know true hatred and true envy,

there is no deeper hatred than that of the merely rich to the truly wealthy. Luigi Mangione is rich. He grew up wealthy. He went to a $40,000 year private school. He went to PIN. He went and lived a life of private country clubs. Same with the Brooklyn brunch crew, you know, as a symbol. They're usually from very well-to-do upbringing.

What they're understanding up for is that they're not, not that they are the underclass, but that they care for the underclass as a projection, as a virtue. It's what they suggest. It's what they signal. and I think if you're in the comments section today or you're out there on the internet championing this guy

Luigi I really wonder do you think this is the beginning of the class warfare do you think you're beginning to take up pitchforks and chase down the cake eaters or are you a cake eater who just got a little bit less of a slice and there's no greater motivation

no better hatred than that which comes from envy Now, this weird thing where we're turning villains into heroes has a flip side of the coin. We're also turning heroes into villains. I want you to listen to CNN last night talking about not just the assassin of the United Healthcare CEO, but of Daniel Penny. Listen to CNN. You know, later in the night, we're also going to talk about Penny and the verdict there. There you also have a victim who somebody determined did not deserve to continue.

living. No, no, no, no. Yeah, tell me. Tell me which vigilante action is okay. One is being proactive, right? So this kid who executed someone, executed a guy walking away from him, shot him in the back, shot him for no reason whatsoever. Daniel Penny is a hero. You can say anything you want. Talk to people who ride the subway every day because I do all the time. I do all the time. I can't find anyone who rides the subway who's unhappy about this verdict. I mean, they're comparing these two. The only comparison is the opposite treatment of the two.

Show me some of this. Two days, I'm going to need you to read it for me. Show me some of what we're hearing from the NAACP and BLM. Yeah, from the NWACP, they tweeted the acquittal of Daniel Penny and the death of Jordan Neely has effectively given license for vigilante justice to be waged on the black community without consequence. It's a painful reminder of the inequities in our justice system. Jordan deserved compassion instead was met with and show more. But basically...

What a community note on that. The community note. You want me to read the community note on that tweet? I'd love... I'd love to hear the community note. Community note says Daniel Penny did not act alone in defending himself and others from Neely. A black man can be clearly seen assisting Penny to subdue Neely. A black woman testified in defending himself.

offensive penny of this there was a time when the NAACP you know really served a purpose in advancing civil rights and had a you know a virtuous contribution to the conversation in America the NWACP is indistinguishable from any other you know self-justifying role fulfilling race grievance person or organization from Al Sharps. Carpton to BLM. And I know you have something as well from BLM. Yep. They tweeted, we need a world where empathy replaces fear, where compassion replaces violence, and where no one's humanity is up for debate. Jordan Neely deserved more. His life like all black lives held an infinite worth. We honor him by refusing to accept a system

that turns away from those in need and rewards those who cause harm. wasn't there tenfold pat maybe you're the guy that has the answer to this but wasn't there something where people blamed the outcomes of jordan neely on the failures of society so that he wasn't housed he wasn't treated with respect wasn't it something like that and that got community noted talking about in fact all the resources from society devoted to jordan neely

yeah i don't i don't recall that especially but I have seen people mention the fact that he was homeless as being an issue, so I don't know, even though he had housing and he rejected it and went to live on the streets. Where was his family, too? I mean, they're suing Daniel Penny now civilly, but where were they when he was alive and dealing with drug addiction? Right. Well, I appreciate the preparation, tinfoil, Pat. I might have thrown you a curveball, but you did not. all the other clips all the other clips were you know it's like yeah no i mean it's great it's like

it's like i'm i'm a pitcher with a nine era and i threw you junk and but hey sometimes junk's hard to hit you know i mean sometimes you know it's hard to it's hard to make contact because it's just kind of you're used to get used to seeing a fastball and then all of a sudden you get this like knuckleball curvy looking thing coming in you can't predict it uh but i get it it's okay it was it was off speed pitch um but there was something pat there was And I think you did have it in your morning production note. There was something where Neely had subsidized housing, like a halfway house situation, and was given, I believe also given some type of drug treatment, again, public services throughout his life.

But what you said, Young Establishment James is exactly right. And you keep learning this over and over. Like, it's always going to be a tough nut to crack for society to try to replace the foundational element of civilization, which is the family. It just, bottom line is. The family is the bottom line, fundamental building block unit of society. And when the family fails, in this case, as you point out, the family now is looking for recourse. But when the family fails, it is really hard for anything else. Foster care, drug rehab, homelessness.

It's really hard for society to try, especially, and it's so sad with children. But it's the toughest nut to crack. Big brother cannot be mom and dad. but um this this and i know pat i'm giving you a hard time because you found this and you found this as well this is now the full manifestation of turning not just a villain into a hero with united health care CEO but turning a hero into a villain with daniel penny i give you um BLM leader hawk something or another on the streets of new york city we need some black vigilantes.

That's right. People want to jump up and choke us and kill us for being loud. How about we do the same when they attempt to oppress us? Right. I'm tired. Tired. There we go. So maybe the full evolution of turning heroes into villains and villains into heroes

is you turn us all against one another in America. All right. fascinating guests coming up. I can't wait to get into this conversation. I want to go back to the golf course when it was pitched Donald Trump. Hey, maybe you should do some podcast. I've got some ideas. And Trump said, run it by Barron.

The man who came up with that idea next on the Will Cain Show. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along. Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at the quiz. then come back here to see how you did thank you for taking the quiz they're saying the quiz they called it the podcast election how did it become so well we might

have the man whose idea was to turn this into the podcast election for donald trump it's the will cane show streaming live at foxnews.com on the fox news youtube channel on the fox news facebook page on podcast on Spotify and Apple and on terrestrial radio across this great country. I want to bring in now the CEO of X Strategies LLC. He's a 2024 Trump campaign advisory. He's also the author of winning the social media war, how conservatives can fight back, reclaim the narrative, and turn the tides against the left. It is Alex Brusowitz here on the Will Cane Show. What's up, Alex? How you doing, man? Thanks for having me on.

Yeah, I'm glad to meet you. I've had this. chance you and I have had a chance to communicate here and there a little bit, which I appreciate, but this is the first time we've had a chance to talk. And so I need you to tell me, I need you to, I think for the first time since this election. So breaking it exclusive here on the Will Cane show. I need you to take me back to the moment, man, the ones become mythologized, where the story goes, you tell Donald Trump on, I don't know what hole of the golf course. I've got an idea and he says, go talk to Barron. Tell me what's fact, what's fiction. Tell me the story, Yeah, I don't know. The press does a good job of making it sound much cooler than it actually is, I suppose. But I was actually in the office and I gave the president the call and I encouraged him to go on a podcast, Theo Bonn's podcast. And he was very open to it. And he values the input of his children and his family. And so he encouraged me to give Barron a call because he looks at Barron as a young guy who understands the internet, which he absolutely does. He's a brilliant.

18-year-old young man with a bright future, but I gave the president to call and he said, you know, I'm open to it, see what Baron thinks, and get back to me. And that's exactly what we did. And Baron was all for it. And the whole family was so encouraging of this entire podcast strategy. Every kid, I think, understood the importance of the internet. And sort of the president. The president also permanently understood it. And we had a lot of fun doing it. So when the idea first came together, was it an overarching strategy where you said, I want to hit a bunch of podcasts, I've got these podcasts targeted, or was it the one-off thing that I heard you just mentioned, Theo Vaughn came up as an opportunity and you pitched Theo Vaughn and from there it grew? Was it was it a baby born from a singular opportunity or an overarching strategy? I think it was an overarching strategy. And, you know, Theo Vaughn was one example, but we had great people from Dana White to John.

Don Shahidi, the founder, co-founder of the Nelk Boys, a lot of these great guys were sending us suggestions, and I kind of became the liaison between that world and the political world. And I think I kind of got that responsibility because, you know, I'm a 27-year-old on the team and kind of have an understanding in the social media world. But the entire team from Stephen Chung, the guy who ran our communications to the senior advisors like Danielle Alvarez and Brian. He was the whole team who was on board with this podcast strategy. And we kind of moved as a unit to, to, you know, present these opportunities. And so we looked at it as an offensive mechanism. We could go on offense using these alternative media opportunities because these hosts, they're not necessarily the biggest Trump supporters.

I mean, the week before we went on Theo Vaughn's podcast, he had Bernie Sanders on. And, you know, Theo isn't a rah-rah maga type of guy, but he wasn't going to give us a contentious interview. He wasn't going to be testy. And he would give us the opportunity to showcase. the real president Trump. And I think that was the overarching strategies, identify opportunities to showcase who Donald Trump really is and not who the media wants to portray MS. And that is such, it's so simple and then at the same time,

so brilliant, Alex. Because, you know, without what you were able to put into place, you're left with somebody like me who's had the opportunity to be around Donald Trump on a couple of occasions, have dinner with him, talk with him, and walk away from that, even for a guy like me going, whoa, he's way different, you know,

than the caricature, the cartoon that's painted in the media. And you sit there and you go, and everybody wants to tell stories. I mean, I've sat around campfires at hunting camp and I've sat around with the guys producing the show asking me,

what's he like, you know, what stories did he tell? Because the truth is, for somebody with so much exposure, so little is known about who he actually is. And I think at the end of your strategy, that's what you were able to accomplish. It's like, whoa, look at his personality.

I can speak for at least one of my producers on this show who isn't a MAGA guy and he's like, I don't remember which one it was. Maybe it was Andrew Schultz, I think. It was like, oh, I like Donald Trump. Yeah. And that was ultimately, that was kind of my whole thought process. And I, you know, something that I heard for years was,

quote, I like Trump's policies, but I don't like Donald Trump, right? And that was kind of a narrative that maybe some Republicans told themselves so they could justify voting. for somebody else or staying home and not to vote or whatever it may be. But as somebody who's gotten to know Donald Trump, I think that was the craziest line I've ever heard in my life. Like, how can you like Donald Trump's policies, but not like the man? Like the man's the coolest guy I have ever met in my life.

Look what he's accomplished in business. Look what he's accomplished in media. Look what he accomplished in politics. Look at all of the dozens and hundreds of side quests this guy's accomplished along the way. All of the photographs, all of the people that he's met. This is the coolest guy I have ever met. And so I'd be sitting with him or something, and a new story would come on, and the media would portray him as such a dark figure, but then he'd be cracking a joke at the dinner table or something like that while this is happening. I'm like, this is not who Donald Trump is.

He's not, you know, this guy on the TV that the media wants to show him. And so basically, we looked at these podcasts as an opportunity to have, you know, dinner with Donald Trump. Millions and millions of people at once watching this podcast are basically having a dinner table conversation with Donald Trump and hearing from the man. himself in a way that's unfiltered. And my favorite part about it was not necessarily the podcast while it was happening, but after the fact, when you read the comments section, and there's tens of thousands of comments saying,

wow, this is the first time like, you know, seeing this side of Trump, like this is, and I'm like, that's not the side of Trump, that is Trump. And but there's tens of thousands of comments in each of the podcast that we did of Americans waking up to the lies that they were fed by the media. And they're like, this guy's actually a good person who cares about the country and I'm gonna go vote for him.

let's go back to baron for a minute so trump says to you yeah go talk to baron what was that conversation like with baron trump it was super quick i mean i just asked him hey what do you think of theovani's like love it let's do it and uh we kind of developed a cadence where um you know we floated ideas back and forth and also all of the children don and eric and everybody had inputs on um on on you know shows that they think the father should do or that that we should be you know, pursuing. And, you know, I think our team was very open to ideas because we trusted our candidate. You know, Kamala had to be so controlled because she's not very bright and she goes and talks to somebody and then they like her less. You know, Donald Trump, we understand that the more

you hear from him, the more you talk with him, the more you like him. And so we trusted our candidate. We trusted Donald Trump. And so we were very open to all of these different suggestions. I mean, we haven't had the president sit down with The Undertaker. And the Undertaker turned out to be one of the very best podcasts that we did. And we tapped in this whole WWE wrestling universe that happens to be the most active engaged with social media fan page of any major sports. Like out of WWNBA, MLB, NFL, the WWE has the most active online fan base. And so they were debating Dave Battista and Kamala Harris or Undertaker in Trump.

And like we kind of created these pockets of conversations. of all of these different demographics, and it was a ton of fun. And so, you know, we're grateful for all of the folks who suggested different podcasts for us and all of the partners that we made along the way. Well, okay, you talk about you trusted your candidate. I'm curious, Alex, and I have to follow my curiosity. Were there opportunities you said no to? Were there some podcasts?

You're like, no, not the best environment for Donald Trump. Well, we looked at every opportunity with an open mind. and, you know, I look at somebody like an Andrew Schultz, for example. Andrew Schultz is an equal opportunity critic. So he criticized Kamala, he criticized Biden, but he also criticized Trump. I figured that he would give us, I look at that as kind of like a wash, and I think he'll give us a fair interview. There was some podcasts that would reach out.

I don't want to say names, but they would reach out. And I look, and they've only criticized one side. They only criticized Trump. And so, you know, I don't think that would be necessarily the most fair interview. And so the Avons, another example. Again, he had Bernie Sanders. on the week before Donald Trump. And so I was looking for, for, for, we were looking for opportunities that would give us

fair interviews and that would have audiences that were not traditionally conservative audiences. And fortunately, there were, you know, dozens, dozens of partners out there. And unfortunately, we couldn't do all of them because of just scheduling. But, you know, right. There are so many of these great podcasts out there with unique audiences and that President Trump got to go sit in front of and win them over. and so we couldn't do everything that we wanted to do, but we did a lot of them.

I totally get the time as finite. You can only do so many. And actually, if I were sitting with you guys in there, I would make the same decision. And I think it's the right decision, not just tactically, but I kind of think morally too, like, okay, no, no,

I will take on an adversarial interview if I feel like it's a fair, equal, offending adversary. If it's only, like, this is only going to be an attack then what's the point sitting there for an hour um and and so it makes me wonder like can i just use one hypothetical i'm curious would you have done it and maybe even was it pitched to you for you guys to do the only one that kamala harris did the only one i can think of that she did was call her daddy was that considered for donald trump i don't think so i don't think so i look at somebody like call her daddy and I looked at her her podcast and she was only one-sided and I watched a

New York Times interview of her recently where you know she claimed that we reached out to her that is not accurate and then she also said that she hopped on a Zoom call with our team and again that's not accurate so I think there was a couple of lies there but she was very adversarial for the president she was you know a couple weeks before that she had a podcast that said dating in the era of toxic masculinity, did he Trump and somebody else? So, like, she tied Trump into this nasty topic just two weeks before they wanted to have a son. And, you know, and so I don't even think that there was actual conversations with her.

I wasn't part of any of the conversations with her. But, you know, I look at her as somebody that I don't think would have been an honest dealer. And, and so I'm okay. You know, we're okay putting the president in. potentially contentious interviews, but we're not going to put them in a situation that, you know, is only, you know, is only downhill. So, yeah, there was no, there was no serious consideration for, for that one, per my understanding. I wasn't involved in that one. All right, one more that I want to hear the background on as much as you're willing

and able to share is the, the long-built suspense and ultimate, you know, ultimately it came together and that is Joe Rogan there was questions about whether or not that invitation would come will Joe Rogan invite you does it also have to be that Kamala Harris does her own version with Joe Rogan we now know since then that Rogan's talked about he tried to negotiate they had all kinds of stipulations about why Kamala Harris never never appeared on Joe Rogan tell me about the process for you guys making that appearance on Joe Rogan well I think it's two guys it was actually interesting with Joe Rogan is what I'm most fascinated about is whereby is the evolution of Joe Rogan's thought process towards Trump over the eight-year

thought period, or eight-year period of President Trump. And at the beginning, you know, Joe was a Bernie Sanders supporter. Like, he voted for Bernie in 2016. He was a critic of Trump throughout his four-year presidency. In early 21, 22, he said he didn't want to have Donald Trump behind because he didn't want to help him out. He did as a helping him out situation. But then he lived through another year, another year, another year of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' policies.

And he had this awakening that, wait a second, like, you know, maybe I should have Donald Trump on. Maybe I should give it an opportunity. And I feel like his thought process was a thought process of millions and millions of Americans who might have been Trump critics in 16 to Trump neutral in 20, to Trump curious in 24. And I don't know how Joe voted ultimately in 2024. I believe he voted for us. But I guess how that went about was, you know, the president and him obviously had some different exchanges. And there was always a mutual respect. I believe there was always mutual respect.

And he ultimately invited the president on. And, you know, we understood that he has a massive platform. And we accepted the invitation. And we made it happen. And I remember sitting in there for three hours. And we had a rally in Michigan later that afternoon. And, you know, people were like, oh, you got to go. I'm like, you know, it's three hours.

Like, we're going to go do this whole thing. And President Trump, he comes out of there. And he was pumped. He wasn't exhausted. He wasn't tired. He was pumped. He was like, that was a lot of fun. And let's do it again.

So I'm glad that it happened. And I think, you know, Joe's audience is, you know, they want to say that Joe's audience is conservative. I think it's conservative leaning. But I don't think they're necessarily Trump fans. they were Trump curious, and I think Trump won a lot of them over during that interview. I think that's accurate analysis. I really do. And I think that's the case for a lot of these podcasts you chose to do from Theo Vaughn and Andrew Schultz, to Joe Rogan or to the Nelke Boys, the first one. By the way, the first one that hit my radar, Alex, was Aidan Ross. I don't know if

that's the first one you guys did, but that's the first one where he started stepping into this world that I remember. But I think you described this world well. Trump curious. The president did the NELC for the first time. in 2021, early 22, predates my time formally joining the campaign. But the NELP boys were, I want to give them another shout-out because they were early into this. They were early believers and supporters of the president, and they kind of showcased President Trump to their audience.

And it also kind of gave permission to some of these other folks to be like, wait, he was on the NELP boys, you know, maybe I can have him on too. And so they were really correct. early on, so we're grateful for them. Dana White's another person that deserves tremendous credit. You know, he helped make Trump cool again with those walkouts. And he did that first walkout in July of 21. And at that time, you know, they were saying that Donald Trump's a political prize done, da-da-da-da.

And then he walks out to the McGregor-Porye fight. Justin Bieber and Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are sitting in front row. But Trump comes out thunderous applause. and they're like, Trump is back, baby. So, you know, Dana White was incredible. The Nelph boys were incredible. And, you know, we had so much fun working with all these people.

And we hope the work continues. All right. Two quick questions for you. I got to go because I got some very serious men who fought in war beside Pete Higgseth about to join me here on the Will Kane show. You have been, I know at least you have, I've seen you out there on social media

talking about the nomination process, not just for Pete, but other. cabinet picks for Donald Trump. How do you feel today, Alex, about the confirmation of Trump's picks for his cabinet? I feel good. I feel good. You know, I had some meetings on the Senate last week. I met with some of the Senate leaders and some of their senior aides and, you know, kind of tie it all into what we just talked about with the podcast strategy. Some of the senators and their aides were praising us for maintaining offense and staying on offense throughout the campaign and kind of dodging the negative news stories that they tried to flood us with.

believe it or not during the campaign process you know they made up like 5,000 hoaxes but we kept their heads down we kept moving forward and so they're like how do we stay on offense and I said it's very simple just catch the ball we have a quarterback and Donald Trump is going to throw you beautiful passes and all you have to do is catch the ball we're playing against a defense that has never been weaker in the Democrats they are hobbled I'm using football references because I just was hanging out with my buddy Matt Liner the other day and you know I was like football references. That's what we're going to get. But so I was like, all you have to do is catch the ball and move it down the field. And I compared the media to the referees. And I said the referees

can't throw the flags right now because they've lost the crowd. The audience doesn't trust them. And so they're hesitant to throw the flags. And so it's completely on us. And it starts with securing good people for our team, getting people in the cabinet that the president wants. He has a mandate to it. And he has the right to get his people in there. Pete's, obviously, obviously one of the people that we absolutely want in there, Cash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, these are the people that Trump campaigned on putting. He wants change agents in there, and the American people overwhelming voted for that. So all the Republican Senate needs to do is catch the ball. All right, last question for you. I want to share with you my thoughts.

I just want to get your reaction if you think you what you think of what I have to say here. This is being described as the podcast election. And I think that's an oversimplification. I think if you believe this was the podcast election, and your strategy going forward is, well, we've got to be on podcasts. But podcast, Alex, I think, we're only a conduit to authenticity. And what the audience really wants is to know who someone is,

a media personality, a presidential candidate, even an advertiser. They just want authenticity. And if they feel like something is overly polished or manufactured, it's not real. The trick on this, though, is, hey, it doesn't, the distribution platform doesn't really matter. YouTube, podcast, even television, except to the extent that certain audiences are on certain

platforms. So the answer is be everywhere. But you have to have a candidate that can do it, who can be real, who can be authentic. Even if that's on Fox News, or if that's on the Will Kane Show on Digital, or it's on the Nelk Boys on podcast, whatever may be, you can't call us a podcast election, because then you're going to think, well, the answer is I should have put Kamala on all these podcasts. She would have failed on a lot. podcast. It wouldn't have worked. So you're going to have to have people that can survive in authentic environments if the future of this country's currency is more authenticity. Your thoughts, Alex? You know, I think that's spot on. And I'm actually disappointed that you said that

because I want the Democrats to believe it's that simple. And so they keep, you know, putting their terrible authentic candidates on these podcasts. And it actually hurts them. You know, when they put Kamala on those interviews, you know, she just showed how fake she was. and it hurt her. And so, unfortunately, now we have to, you know, think of a new strategy for 2028. But you're exactly right. It's, it is all about authenticity. It's about, you know, Donald Trump was, she came across as real and as organic and, you know, himself. Kamala Harris came across as fake and scripted. And also, like, the online advocates. Everyone wants to talk about the influencers. You know, if you look at our influencer ecosystem, we have,

have dozens and dozens of activists who are online all day, every day. They have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of followers, and they all kind of create their following being organic supporters of Donald J. Trump. And then if you look on the left, their influencers are like David Hogg and Harry Sisson and these kind of weird individuals who have to debase themselves regularly pushing these ridiculous talking points that get prepared for them by some sort of consulting group on K Street, and it all comes across as fake. And so I think, you know, we're in the consumer content generation where we see so much. And we, you know, if we're scrolling in our feed, we can decipher what's real and what's

paid for. And that comes across in the political context as well. And so you see something that's pro-Trump, you think that's more organic because it is. And then you see something that's pro-Bideness, you know, Harry Sisson tweeting, this is the strongest economy in the history of the world. Okay, Harry, like, you're probably getting paid for that one because, you know, gas is seven bucks. So, you know, like, you have to maintain all of the authenticity in all aspects of the campaign. All right, man. Well, I look forward to staying in touch to you. I think everybody should check out winning the social media war, how conservatives can fight

back and reclaim the narrative and turn the tides against the left. He's the CEO of X strategies. Alex Brousowitz, the man behind the idea to make this what people are calling. the podcast election. Great to talk to you, Alex. Thanks so much. Thanks, well. Appreciate man. You bet. All right, don't go anywhere. There's a campaign. There is a petition going around right now. There's several. There's a petition with over 2,600 signatures led by Navy SEALs, supporting Pete Heggseth as the Secretary of Defense. But there's another one going around. And it's signed, I believe right now, I think that the number is in the 20s, a couple of dozen men who fought on the battlefield with Pete Hegseth.

Two of those men who have fought with him pulled triggers, banged through doors. Join me next on the Will Cain Show. Following Fox's initial donation to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, our generous viewers have answered the call to action across all Fox platforms and have helped raise $6.5 million. Visit go.comfx forward slash TX flood relief to support relief and rebuilding efforts.

Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson. Every crime tells the story, but some stories are left unfinished. Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at Fox True Crime.com. What are the leadership qualities? What are the leadership qualities that would qualify him to run the Secretary of Defense? It is the Will Kane Show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel

on the Fox News Facebook page. We'd love it if you would hit subscribe at Apple or on Spotify. That way you can always be with us here on the Wilcane show. Or if it fits in your schedule, you're sitting around at lunchtime, wherever you may be. Or I assume it could also be a breakfast conversation if you're out there on the West Coast. You're joining us every 12 o'clock Eastern, 9 o'clock Pacific. on YouTube by subscribing to the Will Kane show. I've been a lot of conversations about every aspect of my former co-host,

my friend Pete Heggseth, his personal life, his professional life, and his qualifications to be the Secretary of Defense. Well, we have the opportunity today to speak to two men that know him very well. And they know him in a different way that I would ever have the honor of getting to know him. That is, they fought with him in war. So joining us now is First Sergeant Eric Garrison, and Staff Sergeant Cliff Marrows. both fought with Pete, served with Pete, side by side with Pete,

and I appreciate both of their service and both of them being with us today here on the Will Cane Show. Good afternoon. I guess it's good afternoon. What's up, fellas? Good. Good. Good. First Sergeant. I think I'll start with you. First Sergeant, Garcy. You were with Pete in Iraq. I think I have that correct. and I believe that you and I have talked before and we've talked about here comes this guy from Princeton here comes this guy from Harvard and he steps in here and it's it would be an understatement to say he's got to earn the respect of the men on the ground did that happen how did that happen yes sir so we were I was serving with the 101st Airborne Division

at the time we were the Rockasans the Third Brigade a lot of people know who that unit is a lot of people don't like it but it's one of the most stored units in the u.s army we were short officers and uh pete volunteered to which i never heard of anybody else uh doing volunteered to deploy as a rifle platoon leader an infantry company with the hundred and first airborne in 2005 to iraq which was probably one of the most dangerous of times in Iraq during the duration of the entire war. He was one of these guys that, you know, he had a great education, great background, didn't have to be there whether he's had a good job,

but he's a patriot through and through. He could have sat home and didn't put himself in harm's way, but he chose not to. He chose to come there and lead his young soldiers, his rifle platoon in the combat. The unit was on its third combat deployment at that time. So him coming in, being from a National Guard unit, you know, no combat experience, not everybody could do that.

That's a very difficult thing to come in and earn those soldiers' respect. You know, he did that by always placing the men first, leading from the front at all times. His dedication to these soldiers, you know, he went above and beyond new. numerous times that I've seen firsthand putting himself in harm's way to make sure he didn't get any of these guys hurt or worse killed because for the combat leaders, that's the worst thing that they're not worried about themselves getting hurt. They're worried about losing their fellow troops, especially those that they're responsible for. He did this flawlessly, and that's how we earned their respect. And then the staff sergeant, I know that's the same thing.

for you, Cliff Maros, I mean, can we step back? It's like, I can only presume. And I would never, I probably shouldn't presume because I can't put myself in the situation of you, men, or for that matter, Pete. But it's not just that he came in in the first sergeant situation, not just he came in with no combat experience, but like Princeton and Harvard,

that's not exactly pluses in the virtue column once you arrive, I imagine, in a theater of war. So it's not even that he's starting from sort of, a place of no credit he's starting from a place I would assume of a little bit of a lack of credit. Here comes Ivy League and he's got to figure out a way to

lead to work with NCOs. Well when he came to us we were getting ready to go to Cuba he walked into a unit I think the National Guard has a reputation of being you know

to be team or not a lot of experience, but there's an ebb and flow to the National Guard. You get a bunch of guys that just came off active duty. They go over to the National Guard, or you get guys that just joined directly, go right into the National Guard, and they don't have experience. He came in at a time when there was a lot of guys that have been there. We had, I had been to Bosnia, we had guys that were in the first Gulf War. You know, prior Marines, Army infantry.

were a lot of salty guys and to have this guy from Princeton walk in and be your lieutenant, it's not like he was immediately welcomed. But that didn't stop him and that didn't change anything that, you know, his respect was earned pretty quickly. He knew what he was walking into. He knew he could tell that we weren't going to take his crap, I think, and he didn't have any problem, you know, jumping right in and knowing how to deal with. us and that's respected off the bat i don't know if will if you have experience in an infantry unit but you don't just walk in and get respect you have to earn it and uh a lot of my guys weren't going to take it and right away he he figured out he knew how to be the situational leader

which is something a lot of guys can't do a lot of guys they have their path and that's how they do it i'm this kind of leader and you're gonna know that he knew to take some of uh what we had to give him just as much as he was given it to us, and we all were able to immediately click and get a mission done. We might not have been the most glorious mission. There's a lot of stuff we still can't talk about in Cuba, but, you know, it was a necessary mission. And it took us doing a lot of long hours and a lot of hard work to get there. Can I ask you how? Like, you talk about he did it. He, he, and I mean, I don't know if you can do it by serving me an example of either, you know, a, I don't know, a technique of leadership or a style or even a moment,

but like, how? And I'm going to tell you why I'm so curious about that how in this moment, but you say to me, Staff Sergeant, that he did step into that difficult situation. It didn't take long, but how did he do that? Well, I, so like one example would be, leave it to me to figure this out. I go to the tropics and I have this horrible cold as soon as I get there. and I'm miserable and he could tell I was and I you know I refuse to stop doing my job but you know he looks at me he knows where I'm at and he's like look why don't you go back and I'm

I'll take your spot for the day and I wasn't going to have any of them but I never heard a lieutenant talk like that before who you know it's usually like whatever you know it's their mission they're going to you know shine and you're just going to be you know a puppet he was all about understanding what his guys were going through seeing what the best piece for the mission Maybe I should have stepped out. Maybe I wasn't in the best condition at that time. But he sat with me. He's like, look, if you really want to walk away from this, go ahead.

I'll take over your spot. I mean, who does that? Not a lot of people do that. That's true leadership, understanding what your guys are going through, understanding what the changes are going to be, and then trying to beat everybody else to it. Right. And Eric, would you give me an example?

I know, like you said, I think the unit you guys were with, you've had three tours, you told me, I believe, and here comes Pete. Was there a moment where you're like, okay, is there a specific moment? Is there one memory? Is there one mission where you're like, okay, this guy is going to, he's going to be good.

He's one of us. Absolutely. I'd like to just caveat. You know, these guys, you know, serving as an infantry platoon leader. You know, they're the guy in charge of that platoon. Pete always took the input of all the NCOs. critical thinker and then you know follow up with a good decision you know how these guys

earn that respect is by sharing those hardships being down on the line being down there at the most dangerous part of the operation um you know setting that example under fire one example we did a nighttime air assault raid in bagdad this was uh our tour of duty we were in bagdad for half of it, and then we were in Samara for the other half. One of the times, he was one of his first missions, because I was very hard, I took, you know, no worthy of his Princeton background and where he was coming from. And I'm glad his previous unit, you guys did a good job teaching him how NCOs lead because when we got him, he was, he was ready for us.

But our first mission was this nighttime air assault raid. And I went on all the first missions with all the platoons, not to be a, you know, takeover or anything like that, but just to be an extra guy to help out, especially with the, because all our officers, that was their first combat deployment at the platoon level. So I went on each one of these operations with them, at least the first dozen or so. we were doing a raid on a target multiple buildings and it was what the unit called the wolf brigade they were part of the iraqi ministry of interior they were primarily a shia unit and we had never i looked back on some of the things that we did then you know from what i know now and i'm surprised any of us made it back home uh looking back on some of the ways we were operating but we had never done any kind of planning we didn't know these guys we had no relationship with

them. Now here we are going full throttle, nighttime aerosol raid, going after a high value target in Baghdad, you know, zero two, zero three in the morning, his platoon and plus about 30 of this Wolf Brigade. We'd never worked with, never been on a helicopter with, none of this stuff. So we get on the aircraft, we meet them at the aircraft. We didn't even do any kind really rehearsals or mission planning with them like we would normally do. Pete and his NCOs, the way we set up on the aircraft, they were on the tail end of the ramp so they could be the first ones leading off, leading the assault off the aircraft onto the target,

because we were landing with the cold land right on the X, right outside the objective. Ice was further all the way front, just like I can make sure everybody got off the aircraft. They didn't have any gear or weapons or anything. like I said, the first time we worked with these guys. As they loaded off, immediately started hearing a bunch of gunfire, and I couldn't tell what was happening on the aircraft. Pilots started lifting off while I was still on the bird,

so I kind of got a, you know, I'm already clumsy as it is. So I got a good, you know, a couple of feet drop off the aircraft nighttime, throwing a whirlpool kit, run the goggles, everything. And what had happened was the Iraqi soldiers had immediately started opening fire on the target. buildings out of nowhere. When I got on the ground, Pete was already up front, trying to get the Iraqis to stop shooting.

I came running up. We got him to stop firing. Then we couldn't get him to move onto the buildings. So, you know, we start, you know, firing them up. And Pete gets out up front and leads these guys to the building, you know, number one man through the door, which is exactly where the platoon leader is not supposed to be. you know, leading the assault force. But he's doing that for two things.

One, that's the most dangerous part. He's getting these Iraqis to move. And he's the one taking the most dangerous part of this. So his soldiers aren't the ones in the middle of this. Now, should he have been in that spot? Probably not. But, you know, he was leading by example. And you asked him about how do you gain that respect?

That's how. By doing things like that. Right. So I want to ask you both this. go ahead i want to hear that after that mission one yes after that i was like this guy you know i was very hard on them and i i don't think so a lot of times you're training your soldiers you know there's not many things you control in combat you know just you control three things you're training your equipment and your leadership after that you know you're on your own and the

enemy gets a vote um you know this guy providing that leadership providing the training they don't understand why you're doing some of the things you're doing until you're in those situations. But this is a guy like when you're looking, what are these qualifications for secta? This is the guy who's been at the lowest level in combat leading soldiers. If that doesn't qualify him to understand the hardships and the challenges of what these guys need and ladies that are putting themselves in harm's way, then I don't know who does. there's no better

there's no school there's no training that we do that could prepare leaders like this leading a platoon an infantry platoon in combat and he'll take those lessons with him to that top spot in the Pentagon

and when these troops are called back in the harm's way without a doubt they'll be trained they'll be ready, they'll be well led so Sorry for Dragan. I appreciate that very much. I wanted to get that in there.

Cliff, I was going to ask you the question. I was going to ask both of you, and Eric just did answer it. But what about your experience with him in your mind you can share with us, Cliff, qualifies him for a new position, that of Secretary of Defense? It's interesting to hear you guys a story. And, of course, you guys know who I am. And I've been honest with my audience about my own personal bias. But I do think it's a fair question when people say, just because you're a great soldier, you're a great leader of, of men at the ground level to ask the question,

how does that qualify you to lead the entire thing, the Pentagon? And I would love to hear from you, Cliff, just like what Eric just told us, is like, what is it about your experience with him qualifies him for Secretary of Defense? I mean, to leap off where the first arm was talking, it's like he said, you know, the groundwork has been done. The foundation has been put in place by him cutting his teeth,

at the bottom level. I mean, and maybe that's an easy answer to just skate on, but that's like the most important. Most people get put into these positions. Most of these people, even generals, are just plopped and put where they want to be put so they could make the next rank. He wasn't that person. He earned everything he got. I've been around a lot of leadership, you know, state level in the military, I recognize when somebody is doing something because they know it's the right thing. And I know when a guy is preaching to me to be the good neighbor or the guy is preaching to me, you know, don't, you know, don't be hard on your guys or, you know, understand them. He gets it. And that's probably the most important thing to understand when you take it to the

top. Yeah, there are going to be some challenges at the top, I'm sure. But your groundwork is what's most important. There's plenty of leaders in this country who are getting stalled and they really are not doing that work. They're having their advisors do it, but I don't see that with Pete. I know Pete is going to have his thumb on the poll, so you're going to be making sure it's done right. Right. It's just, like I said, his leadership, he understands being a leader. He understands when to be a servant leader or when to be an authoritarian. He understands to take the Intel that's coming from his, you know, at that time, sergeants, but, you know, his subordinate is take the intel and actually form a formula plan, not go to what the last

guy did or figure out what the record book says. Let's figure out how to actually make a change and make it work. And, you know, it's easy to say what my experience was. I've known him for years after. We still talk often. And all he ever does is represent being the better person, finding the answer and doing the right thing it's i mean i don't see how that isn't what's qualifying him for that role with the words that you two have used if i just put them together i mean you've said critical thinker you've said ground level you call knowing when to be a servant leader and when to be an authoritarian leader being in your your finger on the pulse of the men and then maybe what i can add to my experience on top of y'alls is i've actually um spent a lot of time with

the thinker you know the thinker who steps back from that and can critically analyze the broader picture and approach this with an overarching wisdom. And I would offer you that between all of this, you come up with a pretty unique profile of leadership that hasn't been in pursuit of careerism, to your point of how much of the military is filled with careerism. That's a pretty unique portrait of leadership. And then I'll just, last thing to both of you guys, and that's reflected, right? Because there's a petition going around of guys like you who have fought with Pete, all signing on to he should be the next Secretary of Defense.

Cliff, then Eric, Cliff, I don't even know what the numbers are up to, but it's quite a statement to see all the guys that serve with Pete saying this. Well, we keep in touch a lot of us, especially for some reason, the Cuba group is a group that's really stuck together. We still talk a lot. You know, I still talk to most of the people in the military I've been with, but that group has been really strong, and I haven't heard one person, and not want to jump on and somehow, how do we get to the senators?

How do we get people to understand the importance of this? Like, it amazes us what we hear in the news compared to who we know as a person. Like, it just doesn't make sense to picture they're making, you know, they're talking about how he's cursing and is drinking. The guy, we used to cringe because he wouldn't curse. So he used to drive us nuts. That was our whole goal is to get him to curse before the end of the deployment. And now they're saying he's like, well, spouting these words, it doesn't make sense. You know, his drinking, we, again, you've never been in an infantry unit, but some guys are making a sport.

And he was always talking about, you know, doing the right thing, not getting out of control, always putting yourself in check. I mean, all these guys just can't wait to speak on his behalf if they get the chance. They all want to send letters. You know, we're all getting stuff together and trying to send it out to as many people as we can. And, you know, hopefully people are going to see this is the right guy for that spot. And Eric, I'm sure, I don't know. Same with your Rakhasaun? Oh, 100%.

And it's not just Raka-A-Sons. I still work quite around a lot of military, and he, you know, rank and file everybody from the lower enlisted to senior officers. He's got full support. You know, the president-elect, you know, wants the military focused on letality and warfighting and Pete's the guy for that, 100%. And he will take care of all the service members. and make sure when they're called out for the next time in the harm's way,

that they're ready, completely ready, and they'll be well-led. Well, there's no more important voices in this entire conversation than the voices of men like both of you, and like it was mentioned, hopefully it will be heard by senators. All right, so Eric Garrison, First Sergeant, Charlie Company, third battalion, and 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne, Staff Sergeant Cliff Maros, Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 113th Infantry Brigade. Thank you both so much for spending time with me, talk about our mutual friend, Pete Hegg said.

Thanks, fellas. Thank you, sir, Will. Thanks. All right. There they go. It's from the men that would know. All right, that's going to do it for me today. We hope you'll subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

We'll be back here again tomorrow at 12 o'clock Eastern Time. I'm Fox News, YouTube, Fox News, Facebook. Until then, see you next time on the Will Cain show. Listen to ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast, and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon music app. I'm Janice Dean. Join me every Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com.