Will Cain Country - Pete Hegseth Declares War on ‘Woke Garbage’ in Military

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

Story 1: The government faces the potential of a partial shutdown today as Republicans and Democrats struggle to find common ground on a funding plan in the face of a looming deadline. But who will pay the political price if a funding plan fails to pass? Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) joins Will to give an insider’s perspective on what the fallout of a government shutdown might be. Story 2: Co-host of ‘The Big Weekend Show’ Joey Jones shares his thoughts on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s announcement of bringing stricter standards back to the military, especially around fitness and hygiene. Will and Joey also discuss some of the varying intricacies in culture in different regions of the United States. Story 3: Who is to blame for the rise in political violence and outrageous rhetoric? Is the Republican party relying too much on Donald Trump? Why are younger Democrats trending more socialist than ever before? Democratic Strategist Michael LaRosa joins Will to debate the democratic perspective on some of the most divisive stories of the day. Subscribe to ‘Will Cain Country’ on YouTube here: ⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country! ⁠⁠Follow ‘Will Cain Country’ on X (@willcainshow), Instagram (@willcainshow), TikTok (@willcainshow), and Facebook (@willcainnews) Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠@WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once, midnight, government shutdown. We've seen this story. Fast and furious, episode 26, except in this case, it's slow and furious. Episode 26. Once again, another government shutdown. with Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. Two, no more fatties among the generals. Shave your beard.

Get in shape. Says Secretary of War Pete Hegzek. We talk about it. Along with censorship on Wikipedia with Joey Jones. Three, debate. Who's responsible for the inflamed political rhetoric? with Democrat strategist, Michael LaRosa. It is Will Cain Country streaming live at the Will Cain Country YouTube channel.

Big show for you today, Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, Joey Jones, Michael LaRosa, all joining us over the next hour, and we're happy to have you along with us for the ride out there in the Wallisha. Secretary of War Pete Hegeseth has set down the new stand. for the United States military, including the brass, the four stars, the five stars, PT, daily, passing, biannual physical standards test, no more fatties and shave your beard unless you're in special forces. We'll hear what he had to say, the Secretary of War. But let's get into all of it now with story number one. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma is a member of the Senate Armed Services committee and he joins us now on will cane country cinder great to see you i agree to see you well i'm

concerned right here though because i'm looking at your desk and you got clemson texas i get texas all right auburn explain that one because i mean you'd think you'd have like oh you i mean ogoma state i get it uh but clemson oberin how does that go along with texas explain this help it okay here's how it works senator of course i don't have to explain in Texas, to your point. That's where I went to law school. It's who I root for. I'm a longhorn. Clemson is where my nephew plays offensive line. I see your horns down. Get that out of here, Oki. Climson is where my nephew plays offensive line. He is a junior, and so he's from Odessa Permian out in West Texas. He was blown away by Dabo, could have gone anywhere he wanted,

found Clemson to be a unique family environment in a world of factory football, loves it out there at Clemson. So when not rooting for Texas, I pull for Clemson. My brother went to Auburn, and this was his. And honestly, I took it from his room, and I said, I'm taking this. In our childhood home, I went back, and he had it, and I said, I'm taking it. I'm getting it on the desk. And by the way, Auburn's getting super popular.

I don't know about in the state of Oklahoma, but in the state of Texas, Auburn and Georgia in particular have really become popular outlets for kids who can't get into the University of Texas because of affirmative action. I know affirmative action. I know affirmative action is not technically legal, but they figured out all the workarounds. Do you know that? Like, you know, we have a top 5% rule in Texas. It's hard to get into UT, so they're headed off to Auburn and Georgia.

Yeah, to go to Texas, you got to like have, you got to have number of amount of teeth in your head. You've got to be missing at least your backmullers or one front tooth. So some people just aren't willing to make that sacrifice. You know, you know as well as I do the power of projection. You face it every day on Capitol Hill. That just sounds like Democrat level projection right there from north of the Red River. You know, at some point we're going to have to go to the Texas OU game, right? So we'll do that.

We'll get, we'll get you on. Were you really disappointed when, you know, everybody turned their focus? Or were you happy that we all started talking about cousin marriage in U.K., and, you know, it's a big problem. It finally took the heat off Oklahoma. No, it's Arkansas. You're getting us confused with U of A and OU. I mean, huge difference. I mean, U of A, after your third cousin, you don't count.

You can date them. You can't marry them. We still have standards in Oklahoma. You're right. It is Arkansas that maintains that reputation. I won't make the promise, but if you send me a sooner helmet, at least for one, week during the Red River rivalry, I will put it out here on the desk. I don't know if I could stand a sooner helmet out here in some sort of permanent basis. Okay. All right. Small one. I don't

need large. These are little tiny. I don't know what you call these size helmets, but that's perfect. We'll get back to Oklahoma in a minute here, Senator. Let's talk about a government shutdown. I mean, God, how many times are we going to do this? We do this all the time. It's so anticlimactic. It feels like it ends in the same fashion every time. There's a a bunch of, you know, hand-wringing and name-calling and finger-pointing, and sometimes it shuts down for a day or two, but it always ends up with the government moving on forward. What's the point? Like, what are we doing here? Explain the government shutdown. Well, it's hard to explain because it's politics this time. Typically what happens is when you

have, a lot of times when the government shuts down is when you have controlled, you have a senator or you have a Senate that's Republican, a House as Democrat, and a White House is Democrat or vice versa. Change that, make it how you want. It's very, it's very odd when you see it when it's a Republican White House, Republican House, and Republican Senate. But because typically the minority in the case, or if it's a unified Democrat Party, too, the minority goes ahead and negotiates in good faith to try keeping the government open. Because in the Senate, keep in mind the Senate is the voice for the minority. So it takes 60 votes to do any type of funding bill. And and we're usually able to, you know, negotiate right up to the end.

And in the past, I've been on all these shows going, hey, we're not going to shut down. We're going to work it out. I'm telling you, we're going to shut out. There's no way for us to get past this. And the reason why is because Chuck Schumer isn't negotiating for the American people. He's negotiating for his job. And he's scared to death of AOC. And so he's literally holding the American people hostage.

And I do mean the American people hostage over his fear of losing his job, which is why career politicians are so dangerous. When he voted for this same exact CERR, or CER, C.R, which is a continuing resolution, when he voted for this exact CR six months ago, not one word has been changed. The difference was when he voted for that time, AOC in this radical left Democrat party that rules New York came after him with vengeance, and he is running absolutely scared and he's being unrational. So what they're wanting us to do, and they're saying, hey, we will keep open the government, but you're going to have to extend the premium tax.

So what's the premium tax? The premium tax was put in place in COVID because insurance companies were saying, hey, we can't afford all these insurance claims. We're going to have to start canceling policies and moving out of states. So Democrats responded by, and it was Democrats who responded in 21 with Joe Biden at Helm and you had Chuck Schumer in the Senate and then we were dealing with the House that said, hey, okay, we're just going to open it up and anybody can qualify for without income caps. Anybody can qualify for this subsidy. Insurance companies can apply for it, and roughly it's going to take 4% of their premiums.

Well, we have 2.4 million people right now that doesn't even know that have insurance. because the insurance companies have put them in place, COVID is over, and these insurance companies are making a tremendous amount of money, which I'm good with, I'm good with people making money. I don't have a problem with that. I mean, I'm all about capitalism. But there's no reason for the taxpayers to still be paying these insurance companies when COVID is over. And by the way, we're subsidizing the affordable health care, which was supposed to be affordable for everybody, and we have to do it another subsidy for it. At the cost of $350 billion, dollars so that he's holding the american people hostage because of this negotiating tool by the way that doesn't expire until December 31st so there's there you can't you can't argue with crazy and there's no way to move past this and to keep in mind well is he doing that senator is he doing that because that to to connect your to your tactical your tactical analysis to your motivational analysis is he doing that because if he were able to accomplish it it would give him a win and a talking point against AOC? If he's running afraid of AOC and the left wing of Democrats, is this a sufficient win for him? Should he get it to hold them off? It's really not a sufficient win because he's asking something that can't be done.

What he ultimately wants to do is slow roll, the left wants to slow roll President Trump's agenda any way possible because it doesn't make any sense when they've already voted for this CR once. By the way, this same type of CR they voted for three or third. 13 times when Biden was in office. So it's not like this is anything new for them. They've done this over and over again. It's the fact that he has to show that he's fighting President Trump. So he throws out the most ridiculous idea possible, knowing that the Republicans can't accept that. I mean, not one. So the point isn't the actual insurance thing. The point is just

to be a big time fighter against Donald Trump. That's it. That's the only reason. But here's what's going to happen October 1st, Wednesday. Every military check will go out in full. I've already confirmed this with Russ at OMB. Every military check will go out and paid in full. Every federal employee will be paid in full on the second. If we go into two weeks and we get to the 15th and 16th, those paychecks don't go out anymore. They stop. And so he's literally going to hold all of our federal workers and all of our military hostage because of his fear of aOC when there is no gimmicks whatsoever there's not one poison pill there's not one piece of language that has changed on this same CR that he voted for six months ago it's just political for him which is why career

politicians okay okay so all right so your argument is it's all political calculus it is all political posturing to be as strong as a fighter against Donald Trump as you can so that you can insulate yourself from criticism from AOC. When there is a government shutdown, generally the party in power is the one that pays the price for the government shutdown. In this case, you'll be trying to make the argument that it's the party out of power that has forced the government shutdown. There's the AOC pressure, but there will also be the midterm pressure.

Like, who will pay the price in the midterms for a government? government shutdown. Well, so if you're on the Democrats or you're on CNN or on MSNBC or whatever channel you're on, that's the left media, how are you explaining why they're voting against it? What are you going to point that the Democrats are doing that are so bad? Because this is Biden's language. Mind you, the CR is not Trump's policies. This is Biden's policies that they voted for to put in place to begin with. So if you really want to go back one year, they voted for this also last year too so but so schumer's voted for this twice this same exact language so you're going to have to explain to the american people now what's changed and i think

that's hard to explain now if we had stuff in there that was uh stripping um obamacare and and it had a whole bunch of um abortion policy in there then i could see where they could have an argument. This has nothing like this. When we say clean CR, we mean that it's exactly clean. Nothing has changed since this time last year, because that's the first time we voted on it, by the way, it was a year ago. And so I think it's, I think you're going to make for the American people's hard. Explain the Republican talking point that what Schumer is trying to do is extend health care to illegal immigrants. Well, under COVID, when they did COVID, they opened it wide open. So when they opened it wide open, there was no qualifications and no proof of citizenship.

In other words, that anybody could apply for insurance and get the subsidies and you didn't have to prove that you had a Social Security. You didn't have to give a Social Security card. In fact, the insurance companies have automatically enrolled over 2 million people. And so there is no requirements whatsoever on this policy. So there is millions of illegal immigrants that are not here in this country illegally. They don't have a, they don't have a work visa. They're not legal permanent residence, which is a green card holder, LPR. They are those that cross the border illegally in a tune of over 20 million people underneath Biden that a lot of those are signed up for this policy and there's no way to prove that they are citizens or not citizens. So that's where

we're still providing the insurance for illegal aliens in this country, which the Republicans are saying, we can't do this anymore. That's why the Democrats were kicked out of office a year ago was because of this kind of stuff. And by the way, when this was first passed in 21, not one single Republican, not a single Republican voted for this because we knew the abuse that was going to take place, but they did it, they did it anyways. And that's where we find ourselves to this day. And that's where they're, that's where their point is. They're trying to stand there and say that these individuals that are, that came in this country legally, these individuals that were deporting by record numbers, these individuals that unfortunately have created

ridiculous and heinous crimes on, on our streets and our cities, that these individuals should be, should have their health care paid for by hardworking Americans. Okay, good. Make that argument for the American people. By the way, this is why you lost your election and that's going to cause you to lose your next election, too. Okay. Back to Oklahoma with Senator Mark Wayne Mullen here. Yesterday I had on Congressman Andrew Biggs from Kentucky. He said Kentucky is known for four things. Burbin, basketball, horse racing, and Kentucky fried chicken. And it got us thinking, like, what are the four things? If every state had their Mount Rushmore of symbols and things that, you know, are synonymous with that state, what would they be? So let's figure out what your four things are in Oklahoma,

besides cousin marriage. No, no, that's on... Arkansas, Arkansas, yeah. I would say first thing is... So what are your four things? I'd say cross, because we're the Bible Belt, and everybody has a church that they go to, so I'd say the cross is first thing.

Second thing would be neighbors. We all respect. We have this thing called Oklahoma Standard, and it's where we don't wait for somebody to show up. We have the tornadoes that hit us all the time. It's not the insurance companies. It's not the municipalities that's cleaning up with mess. As soon as the tornado goes by, you have chainsawls from local churches.

You have chainsawes from businesses. You have dump trucks. Everybody's showing up. Second thing would be football. And I think the fourth thing would be family. We're a huge family state. Okay. And so that's what I would put in there.

I don't even know what his terms up. It sounds like he's right. Here, let's do this. I'm just, no, I'm saying what it is. Bourbon horse racing, bourbon horse racing, basketball, and, okay, here we go. Here's Oklahoma. First of all, you got to have something Native American. That set you apart.

That makes you unique. Native American symbolism. That's got to be part of it. Okay. So that's one of your four. No, we're all Oklahoma. That's fine. That's where the cross comes in.

that's fine but come on you're okay i'm just saying we have this thing called Oklahoma standard Oklahoma standard says we take care of numbers we've always been called the Bible belt we're Bible football is our thing and family is a huge event for us like everybody is major in their family so if you're saying what describes Oklahoma that's what is now you could also go that we're prairie we're known for prairies but that's the west side east side isn't um you can say that we're A node for, you know, being a territory, so you're going to have a piece. You could say that if you want to, but you're asking me what Oklahoma stands for. I'm saying, I mean, if you really get it, we also grow, I mean, we have 8,000, you know, 8,000 permits for marijuana grows across our state, too.

So how far. That's what I know. I know. I know. So, but you have to be what it stands for, and we're a traditional state with the Bible belt and that's what we you mess with our family will come out i'm going to give you bible belt i do think i think i think i definitely think bible belt i also but i think that you know you know alabama and mississippi have a claim to that as well i think you got to have something native american i

think you've got to have oil and gas i think that's a big part i mean that's texas too but that's a big part of your your identity um you do all that football's going to be a tough one because everybody claims football you know every southern state's going to claim football you know every southern state's going to claim football um of course texas is the home of friday night lights but you know what you guys could have like is your symbol you could have like a little brother you could have like a little brother that would be good you know because then like we're football but you then you guys like me too me too we're football how many how many hisman trophies have came a shorter version of us i'm just saying how many how many hysman trophies came out of

texas football i'm just saying i mean oh oh oh you Hizman Trophies. Now, I'm not saying we didn't recruit them out of Texas, but we finished them in Oklahoma. We knew how to make players out of them. You claim things like Hysman Trophies and National Championship Game appearances, not titles, but appearances. That's how you guys do it. That's what you have more national titles. We have more national titles in Texas. I think Oklahoma has more. We're going to figure this out. Hold on. I think this is true. I'm going to Google this, but I'm pretty sure this is true. Oklahoma football has more national titles than all of Texas colleges

combined. Whoa. Well, I mean, well, let's see. Texas has what is it for? A&M claims one way back in the day. TCU probably claims one back in the day. That's probably it. TCU claims one. So six? I don't know. I'm not positive on that. No. No. OSU claims one, too. and it was like 1943 or something like that. I don't know. I don't have to go back. We're in the era of claiming them. Auburn just claimed seven new ones.

I don't know if you saw that, but they just claimed seven new ones. So we're in that era for sure. All right. I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to figure out Oklahoma's four things. And I'll be charitable. We have seven.

We have seven national titles at OU, by the way. Hmm. I'm going to need a fact check on that, too. All right. Senator Mark Wayne I'm always love having you on. I was going to ask you about the Secretary of War, but I got to do that with Joey Jones now.

That was a heck of a thing he did today, talking about the new standards in the military. It's going to be fascinating. I want to hit that real quick, though, since you brought that up. Go ahead. Pete and I talked about this yesterday. And I was like, listen,

a business owner, I always said for my managers when I was running my companies, is you set the standard. This is why I always have a hard time with coaches that are severely out of shape that's sitting on the sidelines. Because you have access to the gym, you have access to the trainers, you have access to get your butt in shape if you're expecting your, your, your players to be in shape. I always hated a wrestling coach that sat around on the side of the wall

and talked about how it used to be, what I used to do. So if you're leading troops, you should set that standard and that standard should be high and you should set the highest standards. Like I said, when I wanted my guys to show up at work at 7.30, I better be there at 7 o'clock. If I wanted my guys to work till late, then they needed to make sure I was working 30 minutes later than them. If they wanted, if I wanted my guys to show up in a clean shirt and a clean clip pair of pants all the day, then I better show up with my shirt starched and my pants starched. By the way, that's Oklahoma for you, for your listeners that don't know what starched jeans are. Those look good. But, you know, because leaders set the standard. So what

Hague said did was he threw down the gauntlet and said, we're setting a standard from the top down, which is exactly what leaders should do. So I love it. I love it too. By the way, I've been giving you a hard time, and you always do. I feel like I have a starch. I grew up with starch shirts. My dad would starch those damn shirts, and he'd get heavy starch. And by the end of the day, my neck was raw, and they'd stand up on their own.

You tuck it in, and it wouldn't even bend until it was up around above your navel. So I'm a light starch guy now. I can't do the heavy starch. It's just, you might as well be wearing cardboard. I do want to give you a shirt and $5 for pants, and I starched for myself during rodeos. Kid you not. I do want to give you credit because I've been giving you a hard time. You had the best.

I believe it was you. Yes. You had the best Pete and Bobby challenge without a doubt. You came in at three something, right? And I wanted to be like, oh, I wanted to be the internet guy that everybody did to me and everybody else. Oh, those pull-ups. I don't know. I'm giving you this.

Your pull-ups and push-ups were unimpeachable. They were legit every single one. it was the best performance of anybody out there. So congratulations, Senator Montgomery. I hope I have the joy in my voice that I actually feel for you. I hear it. I hear it.

All right, good, good. All right, thank you, Senator. Best of luck up there this week. Thank you. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, there, of the great state of Oklahoma. All right, I want to play for you what Pete Higgs at the Secretary of War actually had to say. We're going to walk through that because it's incredible sound

on whether or not you can have a beard while serving, whether or not you're fat or whether or not women have to live up to men's standards for combat. You've got to hear it directly from the Secretary of War. We're going to talk about it with Joey Jones. Next on Wilcane Country. During the Volvo Fall Experience event, discover exceptional offers and thoughtful design that leaves plenty of room for autumn adventures.

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where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at Fox Across America.com. With physical fitness and appearance. If the Secretary of War can do regular hard PT, so can every member of our joint force. Frankly, it's tiring to look out at combat formations

or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country in the world. It's a bad look. It is bad, and it's not who we are. No more fatties among the brass in the military. It is Wilcane Country at the Wilcane Country YouTube channel

on Spotify and on Apple. Out there in the Williscia, Yeppie Anderson says the Oklahoma Four, Sooners, Bible Belt, tornadoes, and lakes. You know, the senator really spun it into some political talking points like neighbors. We help each other. And that's great. And I'm not saying it's wrong.

But how you even, what do you, if you were making a Mount Rushmore, how do you even carve out neighbors? But a tornado, I do think is Oklahoma. So I'm into, so far, I'm Native Americans and tornadoes for Oklahoma. Mark offered up his, his suggestion for New Jersey. taxes, devils, jets, more taxes for the state of New Jersey. We can do this, by the way, with every state, and we should. We might as well ask our friend Joey Jones of the great state of Georgia here. He's the co-host, the new co-host of The Biggined show.

He's also the author of Behind the Badge, an Unbroken Bond of Battle. What's your for? See, this is how this happened, Joey. Congressman Andy Biggs told me Kentucky is known for four things. Bourbon, horse racing, basketball, and KFC. Okay, and it got us thinking, okay, well, what's the four symbols for every state? So your state, Georgia, what is the four? You couldn't bring us down to just four.

I'll give you the four most current. We got Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A, Delta, and Home Depot. There's your corporate side. Then you go into history. You're talking about a state that's the home of the infantry down at Fort Benning. We also are cash props through the antebellum into the industrial era where peanuts, cotton, tobacco, and peaches, as everybody knows. So we brought those things. We've got Atlanta, which if you look at the state of Georgia and the Atlanta airport, that's the gate to the south.

That's the gateway to the south. You've got to fly into Atlanta to go anywhere in the south. That's a big part of what we do here. I can keep going if you want me to. I mean, like I said, we've got the bulldogs. We've got to have to figure it out. We've got the Atlanta Braves. You'd have to put the Atlanta Braves up there.

The Atlanta Braves is literally the professional sports team of the entire Southeast through the late 1970s. I mean, that's all that was, that's all there was down here. Today, right now today, the closest MLB stadium to Atlanta as a bird flies is Cincinnati. So they are the team of the South. So you put the Braves on there, the Civil Rights Movement. You could argue that some of the most important civil rights leaders were from, originated in Atlanta. It's funny you give Oklahoma Native Americans,

and by all means, there are a lot of Cherokee in Oklahoma, but only the ones that fell for the raw deal. The ones that fought and kept their land, they live here in Georgia. They never got on the trail of tears. I live in a town that's called the home of the Cherokee. Nuatota is just right down the road from me, actually,

which was the second headquarters of the Cherokee Nation. So, I mean, I keep going, brother, all day long. This is turning into, like, this is turning into not you, me. So Oklahoma gets Native Americans. Sorry. We're not doing place of origin. They are the Indian territory all the way up.

They're not doing place of origin. Then how do you do Native Americans? They're not the Cherokee art native to Oklahoma. I'm with you. I'm with you, Indians. Okay. I'm not into this PC Native American thing. It's Indians.

And it always has been. And that's how Native Americans feel about it. For the record, by the way, it's Indians. You're just playing semantics. But it's Indian territory, Indian today, the most reservations, certainly in terms of percentage of total state land, that's Oklahoma. And you rattle off so many, but you've got to come down to four. And interestingly, Coca-Cola might be one of the four.

Peaches as a stand-in for as well peanuts. Peaches are probably—peaches are peanuts. I think you've got to have one of those. sure um and by the way here's an interesting thing you got to put the braids in there because that's what braves you got to put the braids in there why tell me why you wouldn't put the braves in there well because i just think of your state more as a football passionate state than baseball and what i understand that but when you talk about like what this state represents to the rest of the country i mean the entire southeast are braves fans because that's the home of

major league baseball in the southeast. So when you put Turner Network on top of that, and now you're broadcasting from the Mississippi to New York, it was a big deal. I mean, for two decades, three decades. I think there's an interesting conversation to have around football because, okay, I think it's one of the four for Texas. Senator Mullen said it's one of the four for Oklahoma. You rattled off the Bulldogs and you'd say it's one of the four for Georgia, maybe. So I got to thinking about this and I was like, okay, maybe football, too broad, right? I actually, as a Texan, would not sit here today and make an argument that we are more passionate about college football than you are in Georgia or they are in Alabama.

And I think you have a debate probably between those two states for like most heightened passion centered around college football. That doesn't mean there's not passion in Texas. There's a ton of passion. But I think I am safe in saying I'm not sure the passion reaches the levels that it does in Georgia. What we have, and I don't even, I'm going to count the Cowboys, like, on this America's team, you know, huge passion around the Cowboys. But I think it's high school football that defines Texas football passion. It is that Friday nights matter culturally in Texas. It is, what are you doing tonight isn't really a question. It is, it is, what was the score in that other district game? It is, what are the current rankings? It is that

kind of thing. And I don't know if in Georgia you guys care about high. I'm sure you do. I'm just saying at that level. So I feel like you may be in the debate for college football. And I think in a debate with Alabama on that front. I think we own high school football. When it comes to like as a symbol of passion and unique about your state, we get Friday night lights. I think like 60% or more of five star athletes in the entire country come from California, Florida, Texas, and Georgia. I'm not talking about. No, let me finish. Let me finish. That's true. Okay. Yeah, okay. So the reason why is people all over the country move to those states to play high school football. So in pockets of Georgia high school football as team, what makes Texas different is you have much more remote places, like Midland Odessa, where there is nothing else. If you don't go to the Friday night football game, you got no live entertainment this week. It's different. Georgia's smaller. It's a smaller state, and it's in the southeast. Every major highway runs through it. We've got the large. just airport right in the middle of it. There's things going on.

That's why there isn't enough room for a hockey team or the Atlanta Falcons come and go because the city of Atlanta has so much going on. The rest of the state's not going to embrace it. They've got their own thing going on. What makes Texas unique in the high school football is that you have cities that look like they're in the middle of nowhere that will build coliseums for their high school football team because they have that oil and gas money going on and they don't have anything else going on as far as they can see.

I won't take that away from you. all. I'm not debating you. I'm going with you on it. Yeah. Okay. And by the way, Joey, unprofessional football, you know what I might actually give that to? Someplace like Pennsylvania. The passion of the Steelers fans or the Eagles fans is unmatched. My sister-in-law, who is from Odessa goes to Odessa Permian high school. Her sons play there, Odessa Permerey. Now is at Clemson watching that passion, which is incredible passion as well, went to a Steelers game and said, this feels like college football. That's different than the way.

Yeah, you go to Pittsburgh, the whole city of black and yellow is into this. The whole city. All the sports scenes are the same color. It's awesome. It is. It's great. I mean, listen, man, everybody's known for something. I'd say that when you get into the rivalry side of it, it's easy to start taking shots.

But this conversation we're having right now, like, as much as it may seem menial or trivial, there was a time when that was the conversation. It wasn't, man, are you a Republican or Democrat? at, you know, and it's like, these things still matters. They're our culture, and it's up to us if we abandon them or not. Oh, I love that position. I love that turn. I totally agree.

By the way, two days. I mean, this is not the show I plan to do today, but this is why I like Will King Country. We're going to do whatever pops into our head. I mean, I have no idea what the audience feels about this. They say to get to the shutdown. Get to the government shutdown, which, by the way, I don't, God, I don't want to talk with the government shutdown. I would much rather talk about these.

And I love how you said that, essential ingredients to a moment. American culture and what and you know Joey and we're going to get to Pete Heggseth in just a second but the thing I love about American culture in part is that yes you can identify it but I actually love the little pockets of difference in extreme difference between Boston and Georgia and Pennsylvania and Texas and California and Illinois I love all of that I love this conversation we're having is like what makes you unique you this whole country is an experiment in localism federalism, community building, and then a common bond around the red, white, and blue.

The Stars and Strives primarily for national defense. That's what we are. No, I spoke last week at a place, they called it the organization was Waco's and Rock Springs, Wyoming. It's the Wyoming Association of County Officers, mostly County Commissioners, and most people, when you hear that, you think like roads, stuff like that. And it's 95, 99% Republican in that state. the Democrat and Democrat calling himself independent officers that are part of that association are the president and vice president of the organization because when you get that local, what we know as Republican or Democrat starts to go out the window. When you get so local that you're deciding how you're going to spend money on 4H, how you're going to fix the roads, how you're going to tax your county, a lot of that national argument goes away.

Yeah, they're Democrat or Republican, but they also believe in almost the exact same. that same thing that all the Republican or Democrat counterparts believe in for their county. And that's what makes this country really amazing. Like, I get to go speak to these organizations. It's so funny, they'll put on their business casual. And I know if I go to Texas or Wyoming, that means my best jeans, my best boots, a buckle if I've earned one, a buttoned up shirt, and maybe a blazer. If you put business casual on there and you're going to Connecticut, that means a suit without a tie. And it's like, that's that cultural difference.

I mean, you know, it's like using the same word for something very different. And it's just an amazing thing to see in this country. And I hate when we lose sight and we attack it because we have social media and we're exposed to everything. You know, I used to say that when you came home from Vietnam, if you took your dad's hardware store and married the homecoming queen, that was as big of a goal as you could ever set for yourself. You know, and like, how do we get back to that? I don't know if we do, but I think we should. I live in Calhoun, Georgia. When they have a junior versus senior powder puff girls football game at the end of the year, the whole.

town shows up to watch. When they win the Division 3A or 3A football championship down Atlanta, they have a parade on their way back up. When my son's drama class, win state, everybody shows up to watch the last performance. It doesn't matter what's happening. This town's invested in it. And there are a lot of towns like that around the country. And it just amazes me that we lose sight of that to be stuck to a screen,

caring about what Gavin Newsom's doing in California or what, you know, or what's happening with Zoron, Mundani, and New York. Like, it's not that those things don't matter, but it's like that's not going to be the reason why I argue with my neighbor. You know, that's what bothers me about it. Totally. Totally. Well, it wasn't.

It unfortunately is becoming why you argue with your neighbor. But I share your utopic vision of what actually was, not what could be, but what was. Okay, I want to talk to you about Secretary of War Pete Heggseth and what he had to say about new standards, within the United States military. A lot of people wondered, and I don't think this is the exclusive reason that all of these generals from across the globe were called back to D.C., but this was in part reestablishing the warrior ethos. And he had a lot to say about standards

and physical, PT, physical training, and so forth. And let's listen together to Secretary of War Pete Heggseth on the new standards in the United States military. Today, at my direction, each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS for every designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard only. Because this job is life or death. Standards must be met. And not just met, at every level we should seek to exceed the standard, to push the envelope, to compete. It's common sense and core to who we are and what we do. It should be in our DNA. that seems pretty I mean common sense and I guess the fact that it in any way is controversial illustrates how far we've wandered away from common sense he went on to say that there will be one singular standard for combat readiness for soldiers women will not be given a lesser standard if women make it great he acknowledged that it will have an effect on women soldiers fewer of them will be qualified for a

combat. But he said, so be it. So be it. That's the way it works. We're going to have the most physically ready combat military. Yeah, exclamation point, bravo, clap, clap, clap. That's exactly what he should have said. I was on with Bill and Dana and I said it on there. I'll say it right now in front of you because I think you'll understand this. There are a lot of men or women in Washington, D.C. that would say the right thing in a small room. General Mattis kind of had a reputation for saying the right thing at the Pentagon press briefing or you know something like that but to say the right thing the thing you mean the thing that you you said you would do on the largest stage imaginable i mean every major news network covering it the president's coming on after you that takes

courage and i don't know if there's that much courage in dc especially the pentagon i really don't to be that consistent with what you've said since you wrote the book on it what five years ago four years ago um i was really i was just very proud of him and i just want to kind of peel back the onion just a little bit on this one example. He said to every male standard. And then I've already seen the, you know, crap for brains, people on Twitter at saying, oh, he's trying to get rid of women in the military. It's like, well, understand something.

If in the Marine Corps, as a man, you have to run three miles between 18 minutes and 28 minutes. But as a female, you have to run it between 22 minutes and 32 minutes. the male standards the tougher of the two standards on the same thing in another example if in the marine corps you have to do 20 pull-ups and you have to do at least three of them in the past 20 to make it to make it a perfect 100 but the females do what's called a flexed arm hang for time well i can tell you a million times i've had to pull my body up over a wall in combat i've never had to had to hold myself in a position with my elbows at a right angle for a period of time that's impractical that doesn't measure my combat effectiveness it's a made up way of of uh deducing someone's fitness and strength in a confines of how they could do it and so my point there is you're talking about male standards because those were the original standards they were designed around actual functional physical fitness and he's bringing everyone to that standard it isn't about weighing it towards the men it's about bringing everyone to the same standard if he's

you want this, if you want this title, if you want this EGA on your column, if you want this EOD badge on your chest, if you want that Ranger rocker on your shoulder, then go do what every other person that's earned that title has ever done before, regardless of your ethnicity or your gender. That's what he's saying, or your religion. And that's exactly what he should say. Senator Mullen just talked about this. He said, four star, five star, you've got to be up to these standards as well. You have got to be doing daily PT, and twice a year you've got to meet PT standards. He's like, I don't want to, I think he said this.

I don't want to walk up and down the Pentagon and see Fat Generals. It doesn't make any sense. He called them out to their face. Yeah. So what do you think? Bravo. You know what? Probably spurred some of this.

A lot of things have happened. I think all the vitriol from active duty service members on X, after Charlie Kurt's assassination, I think seeing fat and overweight and out of shape and out of regs National Guardsmen in DC had something to do with this up front and center and for God and everybody to see that had something to do with this. I think the reason why he put them all in one room today is so that they can't go, well, that's not how it sounded when you came to talk to me or they don't go. That's not exactly what the policy that you presented in that PowerPoint. It sounded a little bit more like this. everyone in the same room at the same time the exact same thing there is no room for gray area he said it to every single one of them and you know what there's something incredibly powerful

about having to hear it with your peer to your left and your right you don't get to claim uh what's um i can't remember the the term but basically you don't get to claim that you didn't know there's a term for it uh anyway you don't get to pretend you didn't hear it you don't get to pretend Well, that's not how you've heard it. Everybody heard it at the same time. And now you need to ask yourself, am I one of those people? Am I one of those people that have been going after folks for doing their job? Am I one of those people that can't stay in regs myself?

Am I one of those people that have been promoting people based on their gender and their ethnicity, not their performance? Am I one of those people? If you don't earn something, you know it. And it's like it's that kind of thing. It's calling them to the carpet and saying, I'm standing here and putting this standard on myself. absolutely it is and anyone criticizing it go on somewhere okay last last one joy listen to him talking here about beards no more beards long hair superficial individual expression

we're going to cut our hair shave our beards and adhere to standards because it's like the broken windows theory of policing it's like when you let the small stuff go the big stuff eventually goes right so you have to address the small stuff This is on duty, in the field, and in the rear. If you want a beard, you can join special forces. If not, then Shafe. We don't have a military full of Nordic pagans. But unfortunately, we have had leaders who either refuse to call BS and enforce standards

or leaders who felt like they were not allowed to enforce standards. What's the line about Nordic pagans? Is he talking about, like, Vikings having all an individual look? and un-groomed. Is that what that is? I love the broken windows analogy. Yeah. I mean, honestly, what he's getting at there is there are Sikhs and Muslims in the military that have pushed and push and push so they can wear a turban and a beard or maybe even

Jewish people with certain things that are part of their, their, their, their, you know, Hasidic belief or what have you. And what he's saying is, listen, this is the military. We don't have these standards and these conformities to take you away from your religion. We do it because that's what it takes to fall in line and show your discipline and your allegiance to this country. He very specifically said when it comes to working hard, keeping up standards and grooming, that is discrimination and it's the kind we need. In other words, if you can't make those sacrifices for any reason necessary, good or

bad, that's okay. Go live a civilian life and serve that way. Because if you're coming into this meritocracy, you're going to be one of those little green soldiers that you put on a table that It looks just like all the others and can be flicked off at any minute because you've got to be willing to put your personal interest, your personal expression, your personal identity. You've got to be willing to put all that on a shelf in order to do this and do it right. Because only then and only then will you be willing to sacrifice all of that in your lives for the people to your left and your right. If you're the kind of person that's worried about being able to paint your nails, whatever color you want them to be or being able to style your hair however you want to or grow your beard the way you want to, then now you're worried. worried about being an individual. And there's no room for being an individual when you're serving in the military, especially in the time of war. And that's what all of this is about.

I don't care if you want to put your Marine alphas on and put a leather dog face on to take your official picture. Go be a psychotic freak in the civilian population that they would love you out in San Diego at least twice a year. That's okay. I don't hate you for it. I don't even dislike you for it. Don't do it in my Marine Corps. That's exactly what he's saying. You see, you start all the way there, because what he's saying is it started with growing your beard and your hair and painting your nails, and it ended with, you know, men dressing up as women and men dressing up, I guess, as a dog. That's where it led to. Because if you're going to make an exception for this person's religion, then now you've got to make an exception for this person who's agnostic, but their identity is as important to them as their religion. You see what I'm saying?

That's the bullshit that they dealt with for at least 10 years now. Oh, really good stuff. Joey Jones. By the way, real quick, before we go, Mark Adiso, says in the Willisha, Massachusetts, okay, here's their four. Championship fishing. No, no. That's two separations.

He didn't use a comma. Championships, fishing, industry, taxes, high energy costs. He did five. One, two, three, four, five. Yeah. I'm having trouble with the no commas, Mark. I don't know what to separate here on this words. Is it industry taxes?

Is it fishing industry? Is it championship fishing? Cah, use some grammar, Mark. I'm just joking. I just don't know what you're saying. He's got to put the tea party on there at least, you know? Yeah, something revolutionary, right? Yeah, something American history.

Sam Adams? Excalibular 1-4 says, don't forget about the masters, Joey. the master. Yeah, I'm not a golf guy, but that's, that's very relevant, very relevant, 100%. All right, Joey Jones, check him out on the big weekend show and the Unbroken Bonds of Battle, his new book. Always good to see you, man. Thank you, Joey. Thanks, brother. Okay, don't go anywhere because now it's just getting heated. Now we're going to have a debate. Michael LaRose is going to join us. We're going to talk about who's responsible for heightened political rhetoric. Where's Michael from? I don't know. Let's start to sound nice.

It's his four from his state coming up on Will Cain Country. This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. This week on the Fox True Crime podcast, I'm joined by retired FBI special agent Stacey Perkins

as she discusses the Bureau's Innocent Images Initiative and the many child predators she has helped to bring down. Listen and follow. Now at Foxtruecrime.com. Joy Reid just caused revulsion on set. It is Wilcane Country streaming at the Wilcane Country YouTube channel and available for you as well as Spotify or on Apple. All right, Michael Lerosa has been a good sport.

Come on the Will Cain show, several occasions, including here on Will Cain Country. We've had debates. I'd say more so even just conversation. The left probably hate you, Michael, because you're too charitable. Yeah, they think I'm too charitable, correct, that I give cover, that I shouldn't be going on some programs. Like, somebody unfriended me for going on Tommy Lerrin. Somebody you know.

Somebody I know. So, by the way, Michael is a Democrat strategist. He's also a former special assistant to former President Biden and press secretary to former First Lady Jill Biden as well. So, yeah, I mean, honestly, and I don't care if this sounds crude, I think it's accurate. It's like a black person being called an Uncle Tom. Like, I would imagine you're dealing with an element of being called a sellout for being someone who will come and talk to me, come on to Fox News, come and talk to Tommy. And by the way.

Newsmax, like all kinds of places. And by the way, you generally have a back and forth. It's not going to be one of these like no ground games. food fights. Right. Well, unless it's on Hannity, but yeah. So that, yeah, I would imagine there's no appetite for that on the left. No, not really. It's really interesting. It's this weird culture because I enjoy going back and seeing how the things that Trump is doing are either very much in line with Republican orthodoxy or at least like some of the things that Clinton did when it came to cutting the federal budget, cutting federal workers, the things he said about

immigration, illegal immigration, it's not... We could keep going. I know, I know. You could do foreign policy. Yes. Yeah. You could do crime. Gay, gay rights?

Yes, exactly. Yeah. I mean... No, for sure. I've made this argument on time when people talk about Donald Trump or MAGA even, even MAGA as being alt-right. And by the way, if we're on the internet, you're going to find whatever you want. You'll find examples.

You'll find wings. you'll find, but the larger movement has largely been a pivot towards centricism. Now, thematically, there is some, there's nationalism. I'm proud of nationalism. I'm proud of the red, white, and blue in America. America first is a very American-focused political ideology. I'm struggling if that's the right words. But on if we, tariffs is another one. We just keep picking these issues and you go, 10 years ago, Mitt Romney would have argued for none of these. And 20 years ago, 30 years ago, Bill Clinton would have argued for a lot of these. Correct, yes.

Well, he was a free trader. Yeah, well, not all. Right, not all. But, you know, like, then he signed Joe Biden wrote the law, the toughest crime bill that expanded the death penalty. And that's why I'm heartbroken about what Biden did on the pardons, because he really, he really pardoned or commuted sentences of some monsters, like dictionary definition of monsters. And this is from a guy who wrote the toughest crime bill in our history. And I don't know. I mean, there's all kinds of theories about why he did that.

I don't know. But even Governor Shapiro came out and said they got it wrong. What are the theories on why he did it? Senator Blumenthal. Well, did he know? Because it was auto-penned. Right? I would love to know if he really does know who some of those people were who were on death row that he commuted.

Because I'm just surprised because it's just surprised because it's. It's not the Joe Biden of the 90s. And this isn't the Democratic Party of the 90s either, but we are out of touch when it comes to culture, when it comes to crime, when it comes to immigration. And look, if my party can't, and I swam in college, I have tons of teammates, and my best friend from college is now a college coach, but he feels this way too, and he's more liberal than I am. But if we can't say that boys should not be competing in girls' sports, the voters will tune out because that's just too scary for them right now. It's just they're not there, and they won't trust us on anything else we have to say. So Democrats, when they say, well, this happens very, this is very sparse. This isn't a real thing.

It's made up by conservatives and it's meant to inflame. Well, then just say no. Just say no. Yeah, then say you disagree with it. If you satisfy the question, it will go away. But when you pivot and dodge and try to blame someone else by not answering the question, all you have to do is have opinions and principles and believe them. So, okay, you and I might find debate in the course of this conversation.

Yeah, I've been watching. I've been paying attention to what you say. Oh, really? Well, I'm going to give you the floor. Then you can go on offense. No, no, it's okay. But I do wonder this, Michael, I'm wondering this. Okay, and I'm going to kind of vomit a bunch of thoughts out here at one time.

But I do wonder if you can witness the death of a political party. And so what I mean by that is all the things that you're describing, there is no momentum whatsoever on the left to go in these directions. All the energy and all the momentum is to go even further radical. Whether or not that's embodied by AOC or Zoraamamani, the ideas that are in defense seem to be or that they do stand for seem to be more and more radical, which means they're going to be more, more. less representative of the actual American public, even those that would self-identify as a Democrat. So you're going fraction, fraction, fraction, fraction, smaller, which means the death of Democrat Party. Now, I want to amend what I have to say. I've always said this. In 2012, I heard Morning Joe talk about that the Republican Party was now a permanent minority party status of white men from the South.

They did not see Donald Trump coming. They did not see this pivot. And they were, of course, incredibly wrong. So I could be incredibly wrong. And there is a Democrat figure on the horizon, incredibly charismatic. that can reform what it means to be a Democrat. But however, whoever that person is also has to have the ideas, as you just pointed out. And I would almost ask you, then what are the ideas? Like, you have to have opinions. You have to have principles. Yeah.

I don't know what those are for Democrats. Yeah. Yeah. Well, a couple things, right? Yeah. So the party is not as bleak as it may. I mean, that's where it is upon us to police ourselves and step out of bubbles and try to understand. You know, Trump, I think, beat Kamala Harris by 2%.

Biden beat him by 4%. There was a huge drop-off voter interest and turnout in that election. He still didn't get close to where Joe Biden was in terms of popular vote. Joe Biden still got the most votes in history. Well, let's just, real quick. There's a couple caveats on that. There's the COVID-mail-in ballot. I'm trying to, I'm just trying to paint a picture of statistics versus feeling.

And when you look at the statistics, when you look at the facts, the party is not in that bad of shape. You guys could have had four more Senate seats. Four more. Imagine what you could have done with four more Senate seats. But in Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, where else? At Arizona. I think you can go back to Georgia. And Arizona.

They chose Democrats, though, for the Senate this cycle. So how do you explain that? It's not only a – I mean, voters clearly have a problem with Republican candidates, too. They loved Donald Trump there, but they're not totally bought into the idea of your party or of that party either. Okay, a couple of responses. First, the statistics game. Also, keep in mind, we picked up two more seats than we should have in the House. We picked up seats.

We gained yardage in the House representatives. Well, okay, the statistics thing can be used to sued the soul of either side. Yes, that's true. Donald Trump won record numbers of swing states, flipped districts. flipped minority votes in directions that we didn't think Republicans... And still never got 50% of the vote, though. He still never got 50% of the vote. On the popular vote?

Never, no. He won the popular vote. Sure, but who cares? That's like getting extra credit for something that you should do. I mean, he got 49%. Joe Biden, when he won got 51.8% or something like that. Trump was never able to get 50% of the country. So there's no man.

That's why I always argued against this idea of some mandate. But go ahead, go ahead. Well, you argue against this idea of a mandate. No, I definitely think there's a mandate. Well, good. Then you can fund the government tonight at midnight. I just had this conversation with Senator Mullen. This seems to be all on Democrats, but we'll, it's, I don't want to litigate this right now. I actually find it some of the most boring political jousting that there is.

Well, it is. And it's, well, it's another example where I don't think both sides, neither side's hands are clean when it comes to tonight, what will happen. But I do think it's a legitimate question about the sustainability of the MAGA movement beyond Donald Trump. I think most of the left is animated by hatred of Donald Trump. Anti-Trumpism is the motivating factor of the left, and you are going to have a sizable portion of the population that is going to be there. But once we rip out Donald Trump from the equation, to the extent that he ever will be during his lifetime or even post his lifetime. I think Republicans will have a question to answer about who that person is. And I don't know. J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, who carries the mantle, and can they?

champion those America first ideas. You have the same problem of a person, but you also have the problem of the ideas and what the person stands for and argues for. I think that's probably fair. I think right now I'm seeing Democrats twist themselves into knots on Israel. That was an issue that we used to own. So that's no longer the case because of Democratic primary voters. You're seeing that in the mayoral race in New York. Not that New York is a reflection of the party, but I do think it's very dangerous to that guy's ideas

Mondani, his ideas are dangerous those aren't the ideas of most Democrats and I think that's why there's a struggle for people to get behind him do you not honestly so we see polling on young people too we do the Israel issue

but you know a greater embrace of socialism I think there's a legitimate conversation if Mamdani actually does have the polls not just of New York City but of young Democrats I don't know I think you have to sample how Democrats consume their information and form their opinions, young Democrats, young people. I mean, that was the first question I asked.

I taught a class in media in politics last semester. I didn't care what they read or what their opinions were. I was just wanting to know how they consumed their information. Oh, and the answer is TikTok. I mean, it was a big part of it. It wasn't that, it wasn't always TikTok influencers, but it was maybe seeing a clip on Fox News on TikTok, an aggregator. They see it as an aggregator. So short clips really do form impressions and opinions.

Right. I think that's something Democrats don't get. I think that's something. I think there's still a culture with Democrats when it comes to publicly communicating and fear. There's a, like we operate in fear. That's how, that's how I. Who, Democrats? Yeah, that's the culture.

Democratic staffers are and candidates and consultants. It's always operating out of fear. There's never a, what Bill Clinton said, running into. the fire. Like when Bill Clinton in 92 and New Hampshire and Jennifer Flowers, what did he do? He decided to confront his vulnerabilities, go on the CBS Sunday, 60 Minutes, the highest rated show on Super Bowl Sunday. One of the most historic interviews of all times, most highly rated. That's when he did with Hillary? With Hillary and did something that no president, no candidate and their wife had ever done before

was to talk about the state of their marriage. And it was, No candidates had ever had to do that before. And he ran right into the fire. He didn't run away from it. Democrats run away from culture questions. You kind of saw it, and I hate to say it, because I'm going to vote for her, and I think she's probably going to win.

But you saw it with Abby Spanberger the other week, and I was bummed that she couldn't just answer the question about transports. She says she's a mom of three kids in Virginia schools. Well, then tell us your opinion. You, of all people, should have an opinion. Right. If you have kids in Virginia public schools, tell us, I don't want to hear about politicizing schools.

We all, nobody wants to do that. But tell us where you stand on that, on that question. So I think here's a essential problem for, I'm going to use this word, and I try to pick my words precisely, but I'm going to say the left, okay, in general. Yes, for sake of argument. Yeah. is that the guiding ideology of the left is progressivism. Now, progressivism as an ideology requires constant march forward. That march forward becomes almost unguided, as long as it is a step away from what was before it.

So from gay to trans is the best example of that, right? That march happened quickly. It did. Quickly. Now, there's a lot of technical reasons why that happens as well. meaning the interest groups involved in legalizing gay marriage after gay marriage was legalized literally had nothing to say they wanted another fight they had to for their own paycheck i was i was at the human rights campaign dinner in 16 when tib cane was giving the because he was the vice presidential

nominee and usually they do that that year and that's what the theme was that year is like we still have we still have other fights to fight we have this infrastructure yeah this funny fundraising we have these jobs yeah we've got to move to the next thing and the next thing became quickly trans but even beyond that formalized problem, there is an ideological problem that keeps you unmoored from principles. You brought it up. You need opinions and principles. And because the very nature of progressivism is that it is unmoored from principles, now that doesn't mean it's not unmoored from some feelings, some thematic concepts. It is going to trade in increasingly fractionalized minority points of view. And you can't, if you're Abigail Spammer.

Berger do the trans thing. Now you've alienated that part of your voting group that requires that next step on the progressive walk. Yeah, that's what I'd never thought of her as wanting to sort of take on that mantle. But sure, and like what you're saying, the only Democrat that's not that I can think of is John Fetterman, to be quite honest. Like he doesn't, my home state. Yeah. He is pretty far left on a lot of issues that we don't talk about anymore. No, no, I know. But he doesn't buy the constant march of progressivism. No, because I put it, I put it this way. a lot of this in the Biden White House, and it really turned me off, but a lot of the box checking for certain jobs. So because what you're what you're talking about leads to sort

of Democrats pandering to different interest groups, saying one thing in one place to one group and something else to another group, and then it goes and then it seeps into the bloodstream more with DEI policy instead of like merit-based hiring. And I think that if you can't, if you can't answer a question and say, no, I'm for merit-based hiring. I'm for, I'm not for quotas. I'm not for saving this job for this skin color and this gender. But that's what goes on. Yeah. And there's a lot of Democrats used to be the party of the suburban mom and soccer mom voters. Well, a lot of those moms who are sending their kids to school to get good educations, their sons are starting to find out that their sons are being sent to the

back of the line simply because of how they were born, the color of their skin. It's the reverse discrimination. And those moms are not going to be Democratic voters for long. If I'm right, and I do think I've history to back me up, you and I just went through what Bill Clinton sounded like in the 90s is a lot like what a Republican sounds like today. What Barack Obama sounded like in 2008 or nine on gay marriage would establish him firmly. is a bigot today. Oh, yeah, for sure. Somebody said that about one of the cabinet secretaries when they were being nominated. And I said, well, so you mean they held the same position that Barack Obama held up until 2012?

And that's just 15 years or that, okay, now it's 14 years ago. And he could do it by force, not even, not even because he wanted to. We don't know how he would have. So that's a fast march, Michael. That's a really fast march. And I think it just keeps going towards Zoroamandhi. Well, I don't, I don't believe it. Democrats had the opportunity to select their Mundani in New Jersey, they didn't, or Virginia.

They went with Abby. They went with Mikey. They went with Mikey Cheryl. I don't think we're there yet. I never really believe that Manhattan is that really a reflection of what the actual party. That can't be because that's not how we're going to win the majority. It's not how you're going to win majority. What works in Manhattan won't work where I'm from in Allentown.

Just won't. And that's a district that we lost last cycle. Okay. I want to let you go on offense a minute. but this is what I anticipated talking about today. So Michael kind of did a little throw up in his mouth here when I just mentioned the name Joy Reed. Two of days, we have this clip of Joy Reed.

I don't know what she's on. She's in a... Look, I think she's smart. She's always been nice to me, but she just racializes things too much. I think she's... The last thing you said is self-evidently true. The first two, that she's nice.

I don't know about that. She's nice to you. Okay, I can accept that. Here's what she said to say on some panel. Watch this. is that if you go back before the 20th century, there were no income taxes, there were no regulations on business, you could earn as much money as you want, leave 100% of it to your children with no taxes, that's the world they want back. And to get it back, they need society to change. They need people to be less modern. They need people to want fewer things. Okay, so she said, by the way, she's talking about Republicans leaning towards fascism. They want a world that existed prior to 1900. No taxes, no regulation. Leave your money. money to your children. So she describes basically, and by the way, a lot of people on the

writer, like, sign me up. No taxes, low regulation, leave your money to your children. That's a good life. And it seems to be she's suggesting that's the regressive fascism that wanted by Republicans. The economic fascism, is that what she's talking about? The regressive economics. Yeah. Owning groceries. I don't know. I don't know what she wants. I'll tell you what she doesn't want is what she just described, which sounds pretty good. Well, I don't know what to say to that. I mean, I think about it in this way. Like I said somebody yesterday, I want a functioning city of New York. I want a capitalist city of New York, a capitalist function. I mean, that's, it's the hub of capitalism around the world. The thing that happened with Kimmel,

I want these companies to decide on their own what they do. I mean, that is, that's part of capitalism. So like Bill Clinton, I guess I'm just a a pro-capitalist Democrat, but I don't like the idea of using, first of all, I don't like the idea of using that term, fascism, to describe something economic or when it's used against Trump. I said this like on, on to Sandra Smith a couple weeks ago, you know, my great grandparents who are from Sicily and emigrated to United States during Mussolini, they would probably have something to say about what real fascism is because if everything becomes fascism and autocracy and authoritarianism and what else there's threat to democracy nazi all those things then nothing is right and democrats have turned

those words into like political confetti and they don't they've lost their meaning um i said this to you i think on your show back in february in october of 2024 morning joe is starting its lead, 6 a.m. talking about Hitler, comparing the Republican nominee to Hitler. And I think I said something like, or I tweeted something like, oh, well, if this is how we're starting the news in October a couple weeks before an election, we're going to lose. This is, I said, it's silly season. Somebody texted me and said, well, you know, the people, the victims of the Holocaust might feel feel differently. I said, well, they probably would be offended that you're kind of being so gracious in terms of that word. Flippant with that word. Okay, sure. And I said, I think it's

kind of insulting, actually, to be using that word. Yeah. And this is where I wanted to go to you. Dangerous. Yes. We have seen the danger of this. Yeah. And, you know, in the wake, obviously, of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, you know, we've moved into this both sidesism debate. this is where if you if this is what you're referencing you say I've seen some of the stuff you're saying yeah I want the full Michael yeah I do I do believe this is not a both sides issue yes that does not mean that there is not inflamed rhetoric on the right yeah I know that Stephen Miller has called his political opponents fascist I know that Donald Trump has called his political opponents fascist yes but I also know that no violence has been committed in the name of that rhetoric yes there aren't people writing that on bullet casings and shooting it at Hassan piker or joy read that is happening on the left towards the right. And because of that, it's not just bad politics. It's bad civic community behavior to be doing that. I don't want to hear the, if you don't want to call you fascist, don't do fascist things thing. Like, how about learn some history? Yeah, I agree. But why are you so? I asked, you know, Mark Halperin, a journalist, or independent journalist now,

And I was on his show recently, and he said, you know, the country's in this political crisis, this moment of crisis. And I said, he wanted to know what I thought. And I said, well, why do you think that? Or what do you think brought us here? I said, do you think it was the Charlie Kirk assassination? And he said, well, yeah, of course. And I said, but, and look, I didn't know Charlie Kirk. The only thing I knew about Charlie Kirk was what my side of the aisle would consider him to be inflammatory.

That he said controversial things. I tuned personally. I tune people out on both sides. I tune out Al Sharpton. I tuned him out. And I regret that because I didn't get to learn what I saw in your montage, which was amazing. What he said about standing, when he stood up for the LGBT community, actually. There were so many things I didn't even realize. But anyway, the point of me saying all that is, does it take celebrity in order to get us to this point? Because. Well, first of all, I mean, I pray for him and his family and I feel terrible about what happened. It was seeing that was traumatizing. But it was also pretty traumatizing that this man went to the home of the highest ranking official and state government in Minnesota and assassinated her and her husband and her dog and then shot nine bullets into a state senator and his wife. and that didn't that didn't grab the attention the way a more celebrity no but can't tell you the difference it's not celebrity what is it then that obviously that was I was asking in a very serious way because I don't know the difference

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First of all, let me give some credibility to what you had to say. That plays some role. The fact that Charlie Kirk is so well known and it was so public, and to your point, we actually watched it happen. So no one can deny that. a psychic role. We watched Kennedy just down the street. He was assassinated.

And it played an incredible role on the American public, meaning a generation of Americans affected by that. And I think that's similar with Charlie. But you ask, why is it not with Melissa Hortman? Or Gabby Giffords when she was attempted execution in a grocery store. But for that same matter. Or Harvey Milk. But that wouldn't just be the left or Steve Scalese.

Didn't receive the same thing. Totally agree. So, and I'm not. going to paint all those right now in one, but I am going to address the Minnesota thing, Melissa Hortman. The answer is because we know what motivated Tyler Robinson. He has shared that. We have seen his letters, his texts, his what he wrote on his bullets, and we know what that was. Was he crazy by virtue of his act? Yes. Was he motivated by things that are very common? Or is he echoing sentiments that are very common? What's that? Did he say that? Yeah, you in one of your

podcast, I think. Maybe. Was he motivated? Violence is violence, right? That argument. Yes. But so the difference is with Melissa Hortman, while she is a political figure that was killed, that particular killer, we don't know what motivated him.

His craziness seems to precede his motivation. He was appointed by Tim Walts. He thought Tim Walts would motivate him. Well, he was appointed by Mark Dayton, and then he was reappointed. But the governor never even met him. Okay. But my point is, who is he? who is Tim Walts in this situation. But we only know that he had 43 Democrats on his hit. Fair. I've also

seen people, and I don't know the facts for sure. I do know he had a no Kings flyer in his car. And he was reportedly upset about the lack of extension of health care to illegal immigrants that Ms. Hartman had voted against. Okay. So, but whether or not all of mine bear out to be true or yours that it's just Democrats, the difference is we don't know that he was motivated by political ideology or political rhetoric that is out there in the sphere that we can extrapolate into, wow, this is a problem in our culture that was motivated by Donald Trump or right-wing rhetoric. With Tyler Robinson, there is a direct correlation. And I would add the ICE thing that happened a week ago.

There seems to be a direct correlation. So. I would even go beyond correlation. But I still don't know what, why that makes it different or worse because of the. Because of actions and consequences. What are the difference between the bullets and the hit list? What are the, what about the guy who tried to assassinate Trump? Because of the actions in the context.

He wasn't just looking at Trump's schedules. He was looking at Biden's schedules and stalking Biden too. So the point of our conversation is, is whether or not this is a both sides issue or a larger political climate issue. Yeah. Or this is a left wing issue. And my point is the examples that we have right now, very recently of left wing violence, are very clearly tied. to the larger political atmosphere. The ones that you're bringing up

don't seem to be tied. Okay, well, you're really smart. I'm sure you remember the 90s. I'm sure you remember the abortion bombing epidemic for over 15 years. The doctors that were killed, the healthcare workers that were killed

in the name of pro-life in conservative politics or, what was it, the Oklahoma City bombing, which was in the name of anti-government. These things have happened. It's not that right wing never. Just to be clear, I don't make the argument.

The Olympic Park bombing was anti-government, according to his motivations. Eric Rudolph was that. But my argument isn't that the right has never committed violence in the name of politics. Right. But you're saying one's worse than the other. No, I'm saying one right now. Okay. It's very clearly worse than the other.

And the rhetoric on the left right now is very clearly, which you agreed to is very clearly bad. I think the facts actually back that, or the statistics according to what I saw from Cato is that, In this last year, there's been one act of political violence committed by someone from the right and five committed by somebody from the left. On those, by the way, I don't know, because I have to look at the Cato study. I did this how much of the ADL study. You don't know what they're classifying as right. Well, that's also the thing.

It's like the definition of political violence. That's the key. It's two things. What is right and left and what is the definition of political violence? Because I do know that the ADL will take a guy who has a swastika tattoo on his arm. And if he kills his wife in an act of domestic violence, they call it right wing. The ADL does. So those stats aren't going to work for me.

I don't know about Cato. Yeah. I mean, it does say that the vast majority in the last five years, I think, 54% of acts of political violence, what they consider to be political violence. And there is some kind of definition. It has something to do with how you want to influence government policy is from the right, 22% from the left and 22% Islamic or something like that. We also see the polling, by the way, of people on the left saying that political violence is acceptable. We see that.

I mean, I think that doesn't scallop. It's like an increase, like, I'm doing this off the top of the head. 7% of Republicans consider it to ever be acceptable. And it's like in the 30 to 40% for Democrats. No, I mean, that's unacceptable. I mean, I said that even when we were talking about Elon Musk, remember people burning his cars and things like that. Like, that is never, that is never, I mean, the summer of George Floyd, I think, I was on the campaign and I told Tommy Larian this and she had to ask me to say it again. But, you know, I was basically called a racist because I said, why is the answer to violence more violence?

And I was like almost written up on the Biden campaign for just saying, something that the candidate would ultimately go on to say. but there's just it should be a full stop but it you know but i think part of that full stop has to include something more than a broad indictment the left has to in particular look at the way it's talking right now and the way it is making people i believe live in the state of hysteria that is causing otherwise crazy people to act on that hysteria well can i ask you one question and i know this is old and this is beating a dead horse and i was not one of those tim millers of the world who thought Democrats should be talking about this every single day. I thought it was over and done with them. We should move on. But what would you classify January 6th, if not political

violence? And that's what's going to be taught in history books. There's going to be isolated. Instances of assassinations and there's going to be reasons for them. But the history books are going to be teaching and showing the images of what happened after an election. Yeah, January 6th is one of these deals, and you could argue, well, Will, you don't want to talk about it because it's not good for you. I just so much fatigue and an endless energy to talk about it on the left. But it doesn't, but I was saying this in 2024. January 6 was condemnable.

January 6 was a riot that got out of control. The only person that died of January 6, though, was one of the rioters in Ashley Babbitt. So it is political violence in terms of property damage, an assault on the institutions of the United States. But it isn't outside of Ashti Babit, that's the only person. There were people that got hurt, hurt, and that's not good, and it's bad. And I think there are also questions. I think there are questions about what all went down January 6th. But do I think that Donald Trump...

But would that have happened? Would it not have been for... Questioning the election? A peaceful transfer of power. An election that really wasn't close, by the way, in terms of the popular vote. It just wasn't. I mean, it was like the ninth closest election in our history. It's not even in the top three.

It wasn't that close in the end. And yet, look what it did. What did it do? Exactly what your kids and grandkids are going to be reading about in the history books. Because, unfortunately, big events like that, you know, those are the things. And look what the American public thought about it. what what did they think about it they reelected donald trump well they didn't reelect him what are you talking about are you election denying no they elected them again yeah sure um

but i want to let you go in offense too you said you've been listening to me i mean i've i've been bringing up some of these examples i think that a lot of what he's got sheets he came out here i mean this is something else no how many pages do you have no fail to plan plan to fail that's what i was is taught. It's like Kaylee McInckney. He is ready. In case I need to be, I need to be armed with statistics. But, um, but no, I mean, I've been listening. So I've been really, um, one, I, but you're addressing it about why you think right now it's the left, is the left pretty radical? Yeah, there's no respect for law enforcement. I don't mind ICE wearing masks. Why would I care if ice, why would I care if law enforcement are wearing masks? They were, they should

been wearing masks on January 6th. Here's my prediction. In five years, you are not on the left. You're already too close to the line, bud. Unless you're just a political animal and you want to be a Democrat. I'm a political animal. I'm a political junkie. But I think politics is interesting when you examine both sides. It's moving so fast.

It's moving beyond. I don't think I could do that to my grandfather and my FEC report say otherwise. Well, then you're, don't hide the ball when you come with me. Give me the full of Michael Lerosa. I am. I don't think I hid the ball. Do you? No, I'm saying if you You feel more aggressive than be aggressive. Oh, no, no, I don't hold back. Pennsylvania.

Yeah. That's where you're from. Yes. Four things. Yeah. What are your four things? Your Mount Rushmore of symbols. I did this with Oklahoma, Kentucky, Texas, the four symbols of Pennsylvania.

Well, the Liberty Bell. I guess, I guess, statuary. They don't have to be all statues, by the way. No, I know. No, I mean, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are kind of hard to. Yeah, I think so. you get that um if you want to encapsulate what the like the steelers and eagles the full state yeah the steelers and eagles the wawa versus sheets you know you don't know wawa's a yeah a convenience store

i don't know sheets it's like the pittsburgh everybody talks about wawa's subs it's yeah it's the same thing it's a wawa sheets is the other half of the state uh wawa is the eastern side of the state um did i do enough what else you got it's four pennsylvania i mean factories so i'm from Bethlehem, Bethelon. Oh, yes. Hershey's. Oh, Hershey, but I'm from Easton, Easton, Pennsylvania's home of Crayola Cranes,

Larry Holmes, and Mario Andretti. Nice! Why Andretti's not from Italy? The Andretti's. Okay, it's two days. Do you want to do this with Michael? Before we go, we got to do a bit of final takes. Why don't you just hang out?

Yeah, we're going to do this. Okay. He doesn't have an IFB in though, so you can't hear. So let's bring a tin foil patent two a days down. We're going to wrap it up here today as we're doing every day now with a quick episode. with a quick episode of final takes. You guys have a couple topics. Who's got it?

Tinfoil, take it away. Tinfoil, go. That's right, Will. I thought we were going to cut this. So I, uh, but we do have a sot of, it looks like football superstar, former superstar Jason Taylor might have had a cold play situation happened to him the other night on Monday night football. Really? Watch this. Really?

Okay. Uh-oh. Woman gets off his lap. Oh, no. Uh-oh. But... He's wearing his Hall of Fame jacket, too. I know.

But it turns out... Is that not his wife? The Internet's wrong. The Internet had to correct everyone for jumping the gun because it was his wife. That is his wife. It was his wife. Oh, Jason Taylor, Hall of Fame NFL player. Did he have a cold play?

moment. Yeah, I was just going to say it's like the kiss camera. Yeah. Yeah. It is. She was sitting on his lap, but I don't even know why you were you're going to cut this because it's a big nothing burger. It's actually his wife. So relax internet. Oh, then that makes me happy that they're a happy couple. Yeah, exactly. That's right. Also, um, there is me, go ahead. Oh, do you want to, do you want to anything? Anything. You have any opinion there? I was going to say something inappropriate. I just, I checked myself. I can't. You can't think Michael for making my

points too. It has to do with other, it has to do with other tailors. Oh, oh, oh. So, also, Disney adults have now been named the most hated group online. Is that right? Should they be the most hated group online? Or is there

another group that you think is worse? Disney adults are the ones who go around. Are there Disney adults? They go around. They love Disney. They're obsessed with Disney. They don't, they don't even have kids, most of them. They just, they just, their whole life is just devoted to Disney and go into theme parks. Are Disney adults the worst people in America? They don't have kids, but they go to Disney World. They dress up as Disney characters. They're super into Disney. Are they the worst? Disney adults. They're not the worst. What's the worst? If I had to think of the worst, it just wouldn't be that. I mean, Disney's not my, Disney's not my thing, but I love Disney as a great company. I'd say cyclists.

He knows that. Yeah. Oh, cyclists are high. Sorry if you're out there on a bite. No, they're the worst. With your little hat. They're the worst. They don't pay attention to the rules of the road.

They expect you to always yield for them. They don't pay attention to anything. Or they don't care about the rules. Rules don't apply to them. No, exactly. Stop signs, red lights, pedestrian cross. crossings? No, none of it applies to the cyclist. That's the worst group. I'm with you on that. I think that might be. I think that might be worse than Disney adults are out there living their best

life, okay? That's what they're into. Why do you care? What's it hurting you? Doesn't hurt me. When he says the Disney thing, that reminds me of like the people who like Star Wars. Yeah. Back in the day it was Trekkies. Yeah. Or Star Trek people. You know, like that's a, that's a modern day Trekkie. Yes. Well, yeah, I didn't say it wasn't suspect, but they're just not the worst. Like your dudes out there with your spandex pants on, you know, disobeying traffic signals, putting our lives in jeopardy. So I'm, I don't know if they're the worst, but cyclists. Spandex and dogs. Worse than Disney adults.

Okay. And finally, Mr. Beast, he's turning himself into jigsaw with a lot of money, like jigsaw, if he had a lot of money. And here's a little bit of sound from a recent. sound no sound no sound no there's this is not no sound no video so recently he had a um he had put a like a quarter half a million dollars in a house set it on fire and the guy had to run into the house and bring back as much of the money out of the fire as he could would you risk your life for half a million dollars but would you risk your life for half a million dollars okay couple of thoughts a couple of Thoughts. I'm assuming there's big security protocols in place. There's no way that Mr. Bees is going to put somebody's death on his hands. I don't even know the guy morally, but legally, there's just no way that's happening.

That guy's a stunt professional as well, by the way. Okay. And you hate this two days for some reason. I actually like Mr. Bees and the content he's doing. I like it. I think he's doing interesting things. I'm a sucker for reality TV and the gamification of life. and me too but who are they who was that he puts these people this guy in particular he was a stunt stunt guy so he wasn't a total green i watched like bravo reality oh me too just like the drama yeah i mean that's that's entertainment this is he put that dude in there set the house on fire and see if he could escape and grab as much of the half a million dollars on his way out as possible and he gets to keep do you watch squid games yeah i like squid games he did he did a he did a real-life version of that, so it was called Mr. Beast games.

So it was kind of like this. So he did do that. Very dangerous. Yeah. So I like it. Good for Mr. Beast. I like the Willy Wonka factory. That was cool. All right. I think we just wrote a viral clip of Mr. Beast, so we'll get that up as soon as we can. So that's what that felt like. You can't prepare for this. This is fun. There's no notes anymore. Is that in the notes? Is that the 10 pages of notes?

Anything on Mr. Beast in there? No. I have to go home and research now. All right. I'm glad to have you on the show. Yeah, thank you for having. I appreciate the conversation. All right, that's going to do it for us today here on Will Kane Country.

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