Will Cain Country - What Will Trump's Economy Look Like Long Term? Plus, Secretary Doug Burgum Says This ONE THING Could Erase U.S. Debt

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Featuring Guest Host: FOX & Friends First Co-Host Todd Pirro Story #1: Todd is joined by the Author of ‘Dogs Taught Me Everything I Know About Business,’ Dan Geltrude for a conversation on the long-term prognosis of the Trump economy in the face of a seemingly shaky short-term adjustment period. Plus, Secretary Doug Burgum made a fascinating point in an interview yesterday about a move that could actually wipe out the United States' monstrous national debt. Story #2: Major James Capers, Jr., Retired Marine Corp Major & Vietnam War Combat Hero, and David “Bull” Gurfein, United American Patriots CEO & Marine Combat Veteran, join the show to recount Major Capers' heroic actions during the Vietnam War while also addressing the question of why he never received the Medal of Honor for it as they push to correct this injustice.  Story #3: Fox Sports’ National Sports Commentator, Tim Brando joins the show to break down March Madness on the first day of the tournament, who the major upsets will be, and who he thinks will be left standing when the Final Four comes around in April.  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

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for $5.5 plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Happy Thursday, everybody. First day, first real day of March, man. I mean, come on, I know they want to sell extra beer with the playing games, but it begins today.

Hi, everybody. My name is Todd Piro. I am the co-host of Fox and Friends First, along with the lovely Carla Schingkis. And right now, you're tuning into here, Will, and you're probably thinking one of three things. One, who the heck is Todd Piro? Well, let me help you out with that. If you're watching, listening in the middle of the country, maybe you're not up in the middle of the night for you 5 a.m. East Coast time. I'm on the early Fox and Friends. I do the early Fox and friends with Carly. We talk the news of the day. We basically do everything else just earlier. Second, you may be thinking, hmm, he reminds me a little bit of Will Kane. Now, let me explain this, because Will Kane and I often get mistaken for one another. I then, in turn, describe

myself as a much lesser Will Kane. That's what I am. When I describe myself to people, how would you describe yourself? How do you fit it? Well, like, think of Will Kane, but worse. And that's my brand. I'm a worse Will Kane. There are a few similarities between the great Will Kane and myself. One, we both spent our post-high school careers in part in the great state of California, or once great state of California. Two, we are both born on March 28th. That's a fun little fact, isn't it? And then three, we are both lawyers. But that is where the similarities end, because that leads to my third thing. You're probably thinking right now, why is he in a full suit? And let me explain.

explain that. Because I understand, I see all the graphics for this show. There's definitely a magnolia theme, you know, Chip and Gaines, the girl. Joanna, excuse me, you know, there's a Texas theme to this show, and I respect that. I, on Tuesday, for Texas Tuesday on Fox and Friends, put on a cowboy hat, and people are very upset. I do not communicate cowboy. When you look at me, Cowboy is not what comes through. And so I decided to double down as much as possible and literally look like I'm going to be greeting people at a funeral home.

So that's my vibe that I'm communicating to you today. And Nation, I hope you're there for it. Speaking of funerals, my ability to be what I like to refer to as the man I was in my 20s is officially gone. And there was no better example of that than earlier this week when the fine crew here at the Will Cain show, Dan Patrick and James, not to be confused with Dan Patrick,

He's got his own thing going. Dan, Patrick, and James are like, hey, do you want to be part of an NCAA pool? Because we're going to do the brackets. And I literally said, well, do I have to do it for the show? And they're like, well, no, it's just kind of things that men, people, humans, Americans do. And I was like, if I don't have to do it for the show, I'd prefer to not do it.

And they're like, okay, bro, whatever. That just shows how far from being the man I was in my 20. I am. Because right now, I can tell you this weekend, I'm not watching the games. You know what I'm going to be doing instead? I'm going to be going to a kiddie concert. Now, fortunately for me, I do have children. It's not just going to be creepy, me going up to some random theater and watching somebody sing kitty songs. I do have children. But that's what my life's about. Princess movies. Like, all I do is watch Princess movies. And it turns out my two daughters like them as well. Aside from that, let's get to a Dan, Patrick, and James. They're going to talk about this.

how I basically lost my man card with them, even before I filled in for the first time on the Will Cain Show. So how taken aback, boys, were you by that diss of the brackets? You know, it's okay. You know, I think you'll be all right. Hmm.

We'll make it work. But, you know, what do you think, what do you think, Patrick? Can I tell you what I did, though? Because I did do a bracket for Fox and Friends, because, again, they pay me. I have to do that. And I did one for, I got like a group of guys here in Connecticut. Yeah.

But you know what I did? They have this feature now. I didn't even know you did. You can just pick up the top seat. I don't know enough about what's going on. I auto picked. And you know what? I do well at these pools when I just let the computers decide.

I wonder if I won the, I asked if I could do AI for my picks. I think AI would be good? I could throw through some chat, GBT. You know? Newfangled way, yeah. Axiose. So do you have anything that like, stand? out as like if you did the AI, if you did something like fancy, that stands out from like

all the top seeds winning every game. Yeah. So Axios did an article on this and I ended up using it for my bracket. But they said if you try and just submit a bracket, it can't like comprehend that yet. But if you go matchup by matchup, it's really, really good in terms of analyzing it. So I went matchup individual for each one and got a pretty standard winner. Yeah, try not to go Chuck. have winning. Duke over Florida. Wow. One seeds. Yeah, I went Duke, too. I feel, I feel dirty about it.

I don't like going one seed to win the whole thing, but it can't not go with Duke. I went Auburn, and there's a specific reason I went Auburn, besides the fact that the computer picked Auburn for me. We're going to talk about that coming up with Tim Brando. You all know Tim Brand. I mean, if you are alive and have watched sports and haven't pivoted fully to Princess movies for the last 50 years. Then you, of course, know who Tim Brando is, Fox Sports National Sports Commentator. He's the voice of my generation. You know this voice. You love this voice. So we're going to talk to Tim about the tournament and all things. That's going to be coming up in a bit. But first, we have two amazing segments to kick off the Will Kane show. And again, I know Will Kane does a lot of stuff like with Texas only. He's a Texas guy. He's

based in Texas. His guest are Texas. We're sticking to Essex County, New Jersey for today's Will Cain Show. And we kick it off with a guy that I know you know as America's accountant. I know him as Dan Geltrude. I also know him as one of my uncle's students in high school. Think about that for a moment. Nutley, New Jersey was the scene. Dan Geltrude is America's accountant. And Dan has a brand new book out, great title called Dogs Talks Me Everything I Know About Business. My buddy, Dan, how are you on this Thursday? I'm doing good, Todd, but I'm a little surprised. Will is not in today. I kind of got lured into this and now you're here. But I'll go with it. Are you serious? You serious? The mountains I move for Dan Galtrude. And I'm talking Essex County now,

and I look like I'm dressed like an undertaker. It all fits. Let's get right into it, Dan, because you know, I've complained to you offline about this. And it has to do with the talk about our economy, the talk surrounding our economy. And we're guilty of it on our show. But every show right now, every network, every radio or TV show focuses on the Trump economy and they focus on the here and now. When they talk about the tariffs, they're like, what is this going to mean for Easter? What is this going to mean for the holiday season coming up? And I'm not discounting those concerns. I understand there are Americans that are going through some real trouble right now. I would argue, and I think you would agree, 99% of that is.

due to the inflationary nature of Joe Biden's economy. But I think that we do the listener, the viewer, the consumer of news, a grave disservice when we don't go beyond what does the tariff mean right now? What's going to happen in the next six months of the economy? And that's why today, Dan, I want to focus on what do you view as our nation's economy and the potential positive effects of what Donald Trump is doing now? long term into the future. My long term, I'm talking 20, 30 years. The reason I want to know this is because I am not a CEO of a company that has quarterly results that they need to put out

there that need to look good to justify their ridiculous compensation packages. I quite frankly, Dan, do not care if some CEO instead of making $10 million for his compensation package only makes five this year. I'm worried about my little girl who just made me this ice cream cone before I came on here. I want to know that the world that she's going to grow up in, let's be realistic, she's going to get a job in, she's going to have a career in and raise her family in is going to be better than what I had to go through. And my instinct tells me that based upon what Donald Trump is doing right now with the tariffs, with the doge, with all of it, is going to make her life better. I now turn the floor over to you. Am I right or wrong, Dan?

Well, you're right, Todd. I do agree with you in terms of we really need to look at what Donald Trump is doing through the lens of long term. He's already laid out, and we've heard from various members of his administration, that there's going to be some short-term pain. Remember, Todd, it wasn't so long ago, like two weeks ago. The only thing that the media wanted to talk about was the price of eggs. Trump's been in office, you know, a month and a half, and the price of eggs are still high. Well, you know what? The price of eggs are coming down. But that's not what the economy is about. The economy is about the long-term picture and where we're going. So let's break this down. What Donald Trump is trying to do is to set something up for the long term. You can look at it

this way, Todd. He's willing to take the heat for future administrations. What do I mean by that? Eventually, this tariff business is going to get resolved. And now, however that happens, I don't know and I don't know the time frame, but I believe that the outcome is going to be a level playing field. So listen, I'm fine with let's get rid of tariffs all together. That's a level playing field. If you want to make tariffs at 200% across the board, okay, not great, but it's a level playing field. And with Doge, as far as cleaning up the federal government and are out of control spending and the fraud and the waste, it's going to take a future administration to reverse that.

So, you know, they may not play it up big. I think people know common sense that what Trump is doing is the right thing. People have talked about it before. Both Republicans and Democrats, Todd, this isn't just unique to Republicans. There's plenty of clips of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton talking about government waste. Here's the difference. Trump is actually putting a plan into action. So I believe for the long term, these things that are going to cause some short-term pain are going to give long-term benefit. And hopefully, no one will be foolish enough to reverse those things in the future and put us on the path to, quite frankly, economic disaster. Yeah. Let's break these down a little by little. So for Doge, for example, nobody wants to see anybody lose their job. We all have families. We all know that that can be a difficult thing.

But a lot of these jobs, we have to admit, and we have talked about this, and the president's talked about this, and Elon must talk about this. These are jobs where people go and do nothing. Not all of them. There are some where people unfortunately have done everything right and they are going to lose their jobs per this. Nobody's rooting for that. But regardless of what pile you are from, there are so many jobs in the public, a private sector right now that need to be filled. So it's not like you're going to be fired from this government job and not be able to find employment. We need to start talking about that, too, because I feel like the Democrats, of course, gloss over on that because they want these public sector jobs to exist in perpetuity because

it circles the vice, if you will, the grift of the Democrat machine. People get jobs. People then support the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party works to keep those public jobs in place. There's also the fact, Dan, of the, when you look at Doge, it goes beyond just tariffs and doge. It goes to what we have currently in our possession as a country. And I think nobody's talking about this, with the exception of maybe Doug Bergam. And Doug Bergam had a really interesting sound by basically saying, if we take a little pain now, right? The, and we, you know, cut some regulations. Ultimately, what's beneath our feet and in our oceans can sustain our country for years to come. And I think this is where Donald Trump

gets a lot of his tariff sort of Cajonis, if you will. He looks at the situation and says, you know, I know what we're sitting on. I know what's around us. And I can turn the screws on these other countries now because we're sitting on a gold mine. Let's listen to what Doug Bergam had to say, and then we'll talk to you on the back end. Listen. 700 million acres of surface. There's 700 million acres of subsurface that we have.

The mineral rights, critical minerals, oil and gas, you know, metallurgical and thermal coal, resources and there's 2.5 billion acres of offshore which is many of which have not been even explored all of which represent huge huge assets for us so if you take our forests our lands our grasslands are our lands that are near urban areas our mineral resources or offshore resources i think the number is what is it double triple what our what our national debt is i could be a hundred trillion i mean you think about that for a moment dad You can do the doge. That takes some of the debt off the table.

You can focus on the, I keep blanket on this. You can focus on the minerals, and you can also focus on the oil. And all these things go together and give Donald Trump, I think, the power to go to these other countries and say, look, you may not like the tariffs. It may not be popular in the short term, but I can do this because I know what I have in my back pocket. Your thoughts? Well, what I think Donald Trump understands is, in the war of attrition, we win, they lose. I mean, that's the outcome. Now, how long it takes us to get there?

Who knows? I think with these other countries have to understand, negotiations are about leverage. Donald Trump has all the leverage. You could choose to go tip for tat with him on social media and go back and forth, which will only result in egging him on to inflict more pain to bring you to the table, or you could practice the art of the deal, just read his book, World Leaders, come to the table with a deal. You are far better off getting a deal up front with him and negotiating in good faith than trying to go to war and think you're going to win. All you're going to do is extend your own pain. And I think these kinds of

countries are going to learn that. Now, I get world leaders need to save face, Todd. I get that. They're all, while some of them are worried about getting reelected, some not so much. But what they really have to do is have the same long-term outlook to say, hey, instead of getting involved in a trade war, let me get, let me negotiate for the best possible deal I can get right now. And that's how you end up with a win, win. If you are in a war that you know you can't win, then you have to take the best available option. And the best available option is just to sit down and work a deal with President Trump. I'm viewing this through the lens of positivity. But I also understand something in what Doug Bergam just said really does need to be emphasized. We are $36 trillion going up to

37 trillion dollars in debt. We need to deal with that. And I am not one of these, I'm not getting into a full-on macroeconomic discussion with you, Dan. I'm not smart enough to do that. Well, Kane might be Todd Pyro, no. But I know that at some point that bill becomes due. And I know there are so many theories in economics to say that bill never comes to. You can just keep printing money and everything will be fine. I'm not one of those people. I don't think like that in my personal life. And I certainly don't think like that here. And so, to think about what Doug Bergam said, we could wipe all that out with just the minerals, with just the energy under our feet.

It just speaks volumes as to what we can ultimately do. And I'm excited for that. And I think the American people, when they take a step back, yeah, there may be a little short-term hurt, but it's not something that is just going to take 30 years to mobilize. Think about the impacts on just energy. And energy fuels everything else. Energy impacts every other aspect of your economic view in the world. If we start tapping into, forget the minerals for a second of day, just the oil, just the energy, the American people, every single one of them is going to feel that impact.

And to me, I'm pretty stoked for that. Before we run out of time, we've talked a lot, we've talked a lot about business. I want to know what would the dogs think and who let them out. So I have two questions for you. Who let the dogs out? And two, what would the dogs think about the current economy under Donald Trump and the future? Because you have a book coming out. Dogs taught me everything I know about business. Right. So, you know, who let the dogs out? Well, in this particular case, I think it's we need to do that.

The American people need to let the dogs out. Because you want to know something about dogs, a lot of common sense. And I wrote this book in part because, you know, if you observe a dog and how they act, and what they do, they understand things that make sense and don't make sense. We, for some reason, seem to miss out on that. So what would the dog's view of our economy be right now? Well, listen, be the leader of the pack. That's what Donald Trump is doing, right? He's trying to lead us to a place where we're going to have some real economic benefit.

And the other thing I would throw out there, time for the U.S. to market's territory. We are who we are. Yeah. Doug Bergam, I think, said it much differently. He said, let's take advantage of the natural resources we have. You basically told everybody in America to urinate. And I love that about you, Dan. That's what I love about you. But, you know, there's so many analogies between dogs, people, and what we need to do to succeed. Dan Geltred, the book is called, Dogs taught me everything I know about business. You can pick it up wherever books are sold. I've always wanted to say that. My friend, Dan, thank you so much for joining us. The Will Kane Show comes back after this with a segment you do not want to miss involving

an American hero. Don't go anywhere. 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.com. Then come back here to see how you did. Thank you for taking the quiz. This is Jimmy Phala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, 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. You are watching, listening, consuming, if you will, the Will Kane show. I am Todd Pyrro of Fox and Friends First, filling in for our friend Will today.

We had these next two individuals on Fox and Friends First, and I am so moved by their story, specifically the story of the major I'm going to introduce to you. I want you to pay attention to this, and I want you to do what you can do. Talk to your congressman. write your representative, whatever you need to do in order to make this situation right. The individuals on your screen right now, the top is David Bull, Gervine, and the bottom, Major James Capers. It's been a privilege being introduced to you two gentlemen, and before we get into it, I want to tell you what Major James Capers story is. I'm going to read from the

news website here because I think they set it out perfectly. Major James Caper served in the Vietnam War and saved seven fellow Marines when his recon group was ambushed and outnumbered by the North Vietnamese in 1967. In and of itself, amazing story, I could stop right there, but I won't because you have to listen to the how. According to the sworn testimony of the surviving Marines, then Lieutenant capers unit was ambushed in the jungle with blasts from Claymore mines inflicting devastating injuries on him and his men. Despite the blasts ripping open his stomach and breaking his leg, a heavily bleeding capers kept command of his Marines and led to in holding off the enemy long enough for the Medevac flight to arrive. Again, if I stop there, this story has gone from,

well, that's heroic, to that's beyond heroic. But, But literally, it grows beyond comprehension with what I'm about to read. When the overloaded aircraft struggled to take off, Capers attempted to sacrifice himself by jumping from the helicopter and insisting that he be left behind until he was pulled back on board by the Medevac crew chief. Capers received multiple gunfire wounds, 19 pieces of shrapnel in the firefight. continues to suffer from those wounds to this day. But due to his heroic actions, capers and all of his Marines survived. That's the most heroic story that I have heard in the

250 years of our nation. And it's an honor to have you here, major capers. The reason we have you on is because we're trying to get you the Medal of Honor. And that's not happened yet. Do you have any idea why, Major? It was a different era. The Vietnam War was not popular. And a lot of the brains and sailors and soldiers like me didn't get the benefit like the troops from World War II and Korea. So I got passed over for the Medal of Honor.

I'm going to ask that question. now, Major Gerfine. David Gerfine. I'm sure you have a different answer. That's a humble answer. What's your response, Gurfine? Bull. I call you Bull. So let's call you Bull. That's fine. So, Todd, here's the thing, that Major Capers actually was nominated for the medal of honor, or at least came up for consideration when Major General Hockmoot, 58 years ago, visited Major Capers and his Marines. And like you, as you laid this out, he hadn't heard of anything so heroic and intended to award major capers,

the Medal of Honor. And Major General Hockmoot was the commanding general of third Marine division in Vietnam. Unfortunately, a couple months later, he died in a helicopter crash, and with him, the Medal of Honor nomination. So it then fell to his detachment officer in charge who didn't like capers for whatever reason. And there was a lot of reasons he didn't. There was jealousy. There was some cowardice on the behalf of this individual. And Capers was a hero. And this other individual didn't lead combat missions because he had failed once before. And so Capers was there leading

his Marines in Fulok. This other individual was not. And when he had to put in an award for major capers, he put him in for the Bronze Star with V. And I've actually written Combat Bronze Stars with V. And I'll tell you, based upon the witness statements, that's a slap in the face. It's embarrassing. It's way beyond the Silver Star. This is definitely Medal of Honor material, as you've outlined. Well, the challenge came that without the ability to access information, because all of his missions were classified, that it wasn't until 2006 that this was even able to get a second review. And this is where the Commanding General of Second Marine Division, now in 2006, Major General Williams, opened this up and said,

why didn't Major Capers ever get the Medal of Honor? And as it turns out, he felt that he was deserving. And I talked to many of Major Capers Marines, including his platoon sergeant. And I asked him, I said, you know, Sir, Yermin, do you believe Major Capers is deserving of the Medal of Honor? You were there at Fulok. He said, no, sir. He was deserving of three. And he went on to tell me multiple stories of Major Capers' heroism.

Now, what ended up happening was with the best of intentions, the suburb. mission that initially went to the Secretary of the Navy included all of these actions as sort of an end of tour award. And that was procedurally incorrect. And it got kicked back. The next time it went up, again, it was procedurally incorrect. And so they kept trying to have this award evaluated, but it kept falling into bureaucratic morass and kept getting kicked back. Sometimes justifiably, other times not. And within that time frame, the Marine Corps actually convened an awards board. And they came out and said, major capers is deserving of an upgrade. And they gave him the silver star. But there was no minutes kept of that meeting. And so there was no way to really assess what happened. But we do have evidence that this same detachment commander who disliked Capers 58 years ago was now somehow colluding with the individual who was in charge of the awards branch and felt capers should never get the Medal of Honor. and actually made very emotional pleas, and we've got witness statements to attest to this. So now we're here at this new situation, and there's a lot of misinformation, and I want to dispel one horrible myth, that this is somehow a DEI award, and it's not. This is something that's 100% merit-based, and yet people are going to have perceptions.

People are going to say, oh, well, he didn't get it because of racism, or he's only getting it because of DEI, and not. of those are necessarily true. What has to be focused on is purely the merit. This warrior is deserving of male honor and he's an American hero that should be celebrated by all. Yeah, I don't know anybody white, black, brown, any color who did anything rising to anything even close to that level. And, you know, we are a country that is based off of the heroic actions of our men and women in uniform. That's the reason we have our freedom. And yet this to me, is the most striking example of somebody who deserves recognition. And, you know, Major Capers, you did receive, this isn't necessarily, this is a job. This isn't necessarily

recognition, but you were a central figure in the Ask a Marine program. A shot of you much younger. Good looking guy. I feel like I'm turning into Trump saying, what a good looking guy. But this picture of you, man, you see that guy. You want to sign up for the Marines. And yet, your country hasn't thanked you properly the way they should. And I know that people like you don't do this for the awards. You do this because this is what you feel you had to do for the country. But it has to be a punch in the gut to have this be such a protracted process, to have to do these interviews to basically, I don't want to say, I don't want to use the word beg because you're not begging. And you're an honorable man and you definitely are not begging. But to have to go through

through so many hoops after this many years since 1967 to be recognized. What goes through your mind when you think about all you have to do to have our nation say, yes, that is a medal of honor recipient? Doesn't really bother me because I've got my godson bull. He tells the story better than I can. He'll get it done. I don't worry about these types of things. It was a long time ago, and no matter what I can do now, it's not going to bring back all those wonderful young Americans that I lost in battle, and I couldn't bring their bodies home.

So I'm grateful to survive it, and I'm grateful that Bull has taken over the challenge of telling the story. He tells it much better than I can. so bowl i appreciate it you've done a good job with it and this i'm an honor to be here so you're going to ask me whatever i ask me any questions that you may have but boom has told a story sure understood um bull you have been relentless and i know that as somebody who's been on the receiving end of your relentlessness and i'm thankful for that because this is now the second opportunity I have to, I've had to bring major capers to, I don't want to call it my audience,

but people that are watching or listening to what I'm doing at that point in time. Let's look forward because you did a great recounting of looking back. Let's look forward. And I always like to make the joke that you can't get people in Congress a bipartisan resolution to say today is Thursday. I mean, that's how divided our country is right now. But you have bipartisan in support. 47 members of Congress signed a letter to make sure that this wrong gets righted, that Major Capers gets the Medal of Honor. Where are we and what needs to happen next to make sure this gets done? Thank you for asking. So, first of all, I'm 100% confident. Based upon President Trump's moral courage in handling various other situations, regardless of political

perceptions, he will make the right decision. And I believe Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, will also support this, as will the Secretary of the Navy and the Marine Corps. However, before the president can make that decision, Congress as a whole has to pass this one administrative bill, which basically says we will waive this five-year statute of limitations. And it's a relatively simple standalone bill. And it allows someone. to receive the Medal of Honor beyond five years from their actions. Now, as we discuss, we do have a letter that went to the president, which I believe made him aware of the situation. And it was bipartisan, but to be clear, there were only two Democrats that signed

on to that bill. Now, we believe that one of those two will champion, or this letter, that one of those two will sign on or lead the push for this bill. And if it's a bipartisan or ideally a bicameral bill, meaning both the House and the Senate get on board, this could be a relatively easy matter to where we make sure that Major Capers is recognized and that President Trump can award Major Capers, the Medal of Honor sometime in the near future, ideally within the next month or so, but Congress has to act. And that's what's so important that we get this bill through so that the president can make the right decision.

This seems like an absolute, absolute no-brainer. This might be the easiest thing that Trump and Hegesat have to do over the course of their next four years. So let's get it done. Major Capers, I asked you this question when you were on Fox and Friends First, and I'm going to ask it to you again because I thought your answer, your answer floored me. And I'm going to ask you the question again. But when this happens for you, you're 87 years old. So I don't mean to be morbid, but we are running out of time somewhat. But when this ultimately happens for you, and you do receive the Medal of Honor, what are you going to do?

I'm going to Arlington National Cemetery and talk to my wife and my son who were buried there. They made the sacrifices while I was off depending the country. now they're a home and I want to go and honor them and the men that lie in Arlington the one that stood beside me and fought with me and shared the blood with me that would be my first first duty and to honor the country that gave me the opportunity I was given a lot of opportunities and now I want to make sure that The country knows that I appreciate it. It hasn't always been easy.

Appreciate it. We're the ones who should be appreciating you. While we've been doing this segment, my little one just, I'm working from home today doing this from home. And my little one just walked in. And I know that our freedom as Americans wasn't on the line necessarily in the Vietnam War. There wasn't concern that the Vietnamese were going to invade. New Jersey and take over my family and just destroy my lineage. But the fact of the matter is it's this mindset. It's this ability of people like major capers to put service above self

in a way that is rare, I think, in today's day and age. It's almost not seen at all in today's day and age. But I can't imagine it was very common, even during the Vietnam War, even during World War II. And yes, we do tell these stories. But what major capers did is so far beyond that. And to have that attitude that he has now, I'm almost embarrassed the way I'm talking about it, Bull. I feel like I feel like I'm not even doing it justice because I know sitting here, there is a zero percent chance that I could rise to the moment of that man right there. And let's be brutally honest, Bull, a lot of those folks in Congress, they couldn't rise to that moment either. Maybe there are a few. There are a few that came close and that have served our country admirably. But we know that we owe

Ball a debt of gratitude. We owe Major Capers a debt of gratitude because he did the things that we're not willing to. And even now at 87 years old, he is an attitude that that embodies the American spirit, but it's something that I know I couldn't do, Bull. Talk about that. Talk about what a unique guy this is just in our American history. I don't think we're emphasizing that. I feel like we're focusing too much on process, and we need to focus more on this man, bowl. You know, I appreciate you opening that up. And so you're right. Look, I spent 25 years serving as Marine multiple combat tours, and I'll tell you, if you condensed all of that, it wouldn't have risen to the level of heroism of one minute of Major Capers actions in Fulok.

And so I'm humbled. We all should be humbled. Yet, if you look at the history of major Jim Capers and why it's such an amazing American story, here's an individual who is born in Jim Crow, South Carolina, the son of a sharecropper in poverty, picking cotton and tobacco from age five. Yet, when you ask him about systemic racism now in America, and you ask him about critical race theory and white people are oppressors and black people are victims, he'll tell you, I can. can't say that. And the reason he says that is because when he was deathly ill at age five, a white family took him in and nursed him back to health for months. And then when he joined the Marine Corps, there was no DEI. There were no quotas. Like, hey, come in and get your butt kick like everybody else. And he faced racists who didn't want him to be there, especially when he went forced reconnaissance, our elite commandos, our warriors within the Marine Corps. You know, these are some of the best of the best. And there were individuals where he was one of the first black

guys in Forest Reconnaissance, we're like, no, we don't want a black man here. However, the system was always on his side. And what he went through scuba training, or he was going to go through scuba training, there were individuals said, no, we're not going to have a black man come in the pool and drown. And the system, the Marine Corps said, you either train him or you get out of the core. And so he went through scuba training. And not only did he graduate, but he was the honor graduate because he's an amazing swimmer. And he says he can still beat me right now. And he probably could, but the reality is that the system was always on his side because he transcended ideological politics and false narratives to where he received a battlefield commission. He was taken from an enlisted Marine, and he was made an officer in the Marine Corps.

Less than 0.05% of all Marines who served in Vietnam received such an honor. Why? Because he was that good. he was such a great leader he was so tactically proficient that the marine corps the system recognized what a great individual he was and so he went on to serve and then as you mentioned he became the face of the marine corps as a matter of fact i'll move out of the way here you know this this is the poster this is the ask a marine poster it literally for seven years was one of the most successful campaigns the marine corps ever had and major capers is showing his book here and it's on the cover of his book So he knows, look, there are racists, but the system always supported him.

And this is where people have tried to get him to pick up a narrative and to sell a political ideology, which quite frankly, it demeans who he is as an individual. He's an American hero. And he has to be recognized as an American hero. And again, I'm 100% confident that President Trump, Pete Hagseth and J.D. Vance, they, They know this, and they're going to recognize this warrior because he transcends politics. I have one final question for the major, and it follows what you just said, bull. Critics are going to say having a life that you had growing up in Jim Crow South, facing racism and disrespect the way you had throughout your life, throughout your time in our military, offending our country and now being disrespected for all these years, not getting the Medal of

Honor that you deserve. Why do you still love our country so much that you talk about it in such glowing terms? I want to end today's interview with you answering that question. Why do you love America so much after all that you have given to it when it has not necessarily to some of us look like America has returned the favor to you. Major Capers, your response. I'll pass that on

to my godson, Bull. You can answer this better than I can. I appreciate that. And we've discussed this, and I've known the major for several years, and we've had sit-down conversations. And time and again,

the major is talked about everything that he's become to this point. He credits with his time in the Marine Corps. He credits with the opportunities provided in America. And although you can point out specific incidents, the majors peer group, it's not one race. It's literally groups from every possible race, religion, creed. He is, again, he constantly, embraces other individuals and other individuals embrace him. All his warriors he served with were white. And every guy I talked to loved him to death.

And moreover, Capers was willing to lay down his life for them. So I think that that's the spirit of America. And that's what makes America great is that we have to get back to unifying our country instead of trying to divide it upon superficial perspectives or based upon injustices that have happened in the past and focus. as you rightly said, let's focus on the future. And, you know, I consider the major one of my mentors, and he's educated me, and he's helped align me, and I'm grateful. It's an honor to spend time with this living legend.

So anything that I can do, it's minimal compared to what he has done for our nation. Thank you, son. When this gets done. Oh, please. When this gets done, I know it's going to be standing room only. I know there's going to be limited invites, but I'm lobbying for one now, if for no other reason, and to shake both of your hands in that room and just to thank you, Bull, for bringing this story, this cause, this person, this hero to my attention and to the attention of so many others,

including the President and the Secretary of Defense, but also to shake your hand, Major Capers, for all that you've done for our country. It has been an honor to be able to interview you twice. thank you. A grateful nation thanks you. And let's get this done, America. Major James Capers, David Bull-Gerfine, thank you for your time. More from the Will Cain

Show right after this. From the Fox News Podcasts Network. Hey there, it's me. Kennedy. Make sure to check out my podcast. Kennedy saves the world. It is five days a week. Every week. Download and listen at Fox News Podcasts. com or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gatty podcast.

I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. All right, we are back here on the Will Kane show. I am Todd Piro filling in for my. friend Will. And 20 years ago, if we had done this segment, if I had been filling in for Will and we did a basketball segment, March Madness, I would have been so on. I would have known every player. I would have known the teams. I would have had an amazing ability to screw up my own

bracket by overthinking, but I would have had the thought and the knowledge to be able to overthink. This year, I don't know anything. I don't even know a single player. I barely know the teams that are playing. And so we're going to talk to Tim Brando, Fox Sports National Sports Commentator to tell you America, especially you lacks sports fans, you lacks college basketball fans out there, what you need to know heading into to now. Tipoff was like 32 minutes ago. So Tim, great to have you here. A nutshell it for us. Sum up this field of 64 in one sentence. oh man now okay not one sentence not one word okay so um blasphemy to start blasphemy to start

okay we're going to have unbelievable upsets early but in the end we will have the top seeds come through okay we're going to have three number ones and one number two seed make it to the final four in san antonio and i think one of the reasons for that is we will have more upsets today and tomorrow than we have seen probably in the history of the tournament because of the great balance that we have in college basketball today in the new era of Intercollegiate Athletics, which is the NIL portal era, where teams can literally change because of unrestricted free agency that players now get. The coach at McNeese State, by example, Will Wade, who has already accepted a job at North Carolina State, was let go at LSU because the after FBI had wiretapped him a few years ago while he was at LSU on the telephone talking to someone about making a strong-ass offer, okay, a strong-ass offer of money. That got him fired at LSU. He went into coaching exile, and then he state hires him, and now all of a sudden, because the NCAA kicked the can down to the corner for 15 years on what amateurism was, the yet O'Bannon case was won.

all of a sudden now we have an open market where players can be finally paid with name image and likeness. We still have a lot of work to do, Todd, as you will know, but because of that, we have now seen players and coaches, Way being, I think, a major factor here because these states got talent. They won 30 games. They're a team out of the Southwood Conference that's barely, if ever, on television. And you watch, even though he's already accepted a job elsewhere, Those kids can't wait to play. And I think that's a team that can win today. I think several teams that people don't see on either FS1 or ESPN on a regular basis

are going to have their victory lap today. They're one shining moment. And for those teams, by the way, Todd, if they win one game in the NCAAs, that's like winning a national championship for those schools. It really is. So we're going to have a lot of that. But in the end, the teams at the top, the four top seats that you know all about, that you've seen a great deal.

If you happen to be a sports fan or a college basketball junkie like I am, they will eventually be on the precipice of making it to the summit, which is San Antonio this year, or in the case of New York where you are, St. John's has got a chance to wake up the echoes from 40 years ago in 1985,

and I think that they're going to match up very, very well with Florida and make it to the final four. I think Rick Petino can be a real difference maker with his savvy, with his knowledge and his success to make it back. You've got to be thinking about coaches when you make these picks with your brackets.

You've got to be, because these guys have been around a while, they've been around because they've been successful this time of year. You mentioned NIL. I want to break down the rest of our time into three topics. I want to talk about NIL. I want to talk about the upsets, and I want to talk about your final four.

Let's start with NIL. You took the words right on my mouth. You mentioned St. John's. Here's a program. I'm 46. I'm about to be 47. next week, next Friday, along with Wilcane, March 28th is our big day. And I remember in the 80s, St. John's mattered. You had Luke Carnaceka. You had Chris Mullen. And then for the next four

decades of my life, nobody cared about St. John's at all. And then all of a sudden, Rick Petino gets in there, and NIL happens. And you have, it's either the, it's the vitamin water guy, if I'm not mistaken. Grew up a big St. John's van. And now, I don't want to use the word buying relevance, but I can't think of another phrase for it. But that said, that is the game, Tim. Everybody's allowed to play it. It comes down to who has the richest alums. And right now, St. John's has a guy in this vitamin water guy who's willing to put pen to paper and bring in the best players.

And this St. John's story, this is a train that is leaving the station, Tim. Well, that being said, when you talk about that, let me be frank, though, but these guys, if you're a fan of your team, you have an opportunity to show it now, and you can make, as Will Wade said, strong-ass offers, and it's okay, it's legal, and athletic directors and presidents of universities are having to, you know, kind of grin and bear it and understand that this is the world they're in. You know, athletics can help the economics of an institution, and they love to take those economics and all that revenue. and poured into other places within their institution, and most of them have. You know, we have a tendency, I think, to look down our noses at athletics if you come from the academic world. But the truth of the matter is now, you've got to really get some of that money and hope that your athletics program can do well because it's going to enhance your enrollment.

It's going to do a lot of other great things. The gentleman you're talking about is just one example. Ohio State won a national championship this year in football with a $20 million payroll, okay, a $20 million payroll. And they didn't spend more money than LSU, who didn't even make the college football playoff. They're going to spend $23 million this year.

LSU's already on the hook for about 22 to $23 million. Now in basketball, we're talking far less than that because of the roster size. But still, money's money, and it's going to make a difference. Kadari, Richmond came over across the river from Seton Hall to St. John's

for one reason. He was going to do well for his family. He was going to do well for himself and make some money that Seton Hall could not come up with. Rick's been very honest about that. There's a lot of good, too, that comes from NIL. By the way, a lot of these young men are good kids that want to have an opportunity to help other good kids. Some of them are involved in the Big Brother programs, and they're able to help young men

that are really coming from disparage backgrounds to come and be with them when they make that move. There are several stories of that. So a lot of negativity out there connected, but it's not all bad. Name image and likeness and the portal has really been, I think, a savior for a lot of young people in this country who were coming from nothing and had to take handouts because they wouldn't be in college if not for their abilities to play basketball. But it helps them become better men. I'm one that sees a lot of good in name image and likeness. And I think a lot of stereotypes are out there that fans have problems with.

But the truth of the matter is, this is perfect for Rick because he's coached into pros. You know, he was at the garden coaching the Knicks at one time. He knows how to assemble a roster either through recruiting the old-fashioned way or through the free market exchange and free agency because he's been part of that in the NBA. And you've got to assemble these teams now, Todd, you've got to do them every year. It's not like you can build the program with one recruit. student class like Shechevsky did in 1986 and then carry your way to, you know, building the program through that. You've got to rebuild and re-recruit the kids on your own roster every year. More of the Will Kane Show right after this.

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 Fox News Podcast. or wherever you download podcasts. 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 Truecrime.com. That's such a great point, Tim, because I look at where I am right now. I'm doing the show today from my home here in Connecticut. And obviously, in the last two years, thank you. You like this? right. I came straight from the city because I did. Will's far more casual when he does his pod. Yeah. I'm just to give him a hard. I joked at the outset of the show, I look like I'm about

to be at a funeral, you know, greeting people as they walk in. And for Connecticut, this could be their year of a funeral, you know, because the last two years, they have just been absolutely dominant. And you mentioned each year is a different year that you have to reload. You can't really rebuild. And Connecticut thought they did that. They had wonderful. their superstars returning, and then they brought in even better players, and it just hasn't worked out this year for them. We'll see if it works out. They're ranked 94th in the defensive metrics when they won the last two years based upon being in the top five of defense in the country. So that's my Connecticut plug, but I want to get to your upset specials. What are you

looking for between today and let's say Sunday night when the games have whittled everybody down to 16. What upsets do you think we should be paying attention to? Well, let me get back to Connecticut for just a second. Liam McNeely got hurt. Sure. Missed eight gains. And that really was a problem. He was going to replace Cam Spencer, who was the outpitch that they had a year ago. And the combination of losing him, losing their rim protector, Donovan clinging to the NBA, who's now playing in Portland. You know, you're going to have issues when you lose players and you think you've replaced them, but something happens that you can't control. like an injury to McNeely.

But Connecticut can still be a problem. They have a chance, I think, to not only win their first game, but maybe even surprise in the second round. I don't see them as a final 14, however, Todd. They're going to be a lot of upsets. Keep your eyes today on the brackets. It's a great game underway right now with Brayton and Louisville. The winner of that game is going to play Auburn.

And that's a team that I think a winner of this game could give Auburn a problem. I mean, they could. But Auburn is so good, so length, so lengthy, and they've got such great depth. I think that they're going to ride through their region. But think about how the bracket could open up. UC San Diego, a lot of people haven't seen them. They're going to play Michigan who just won the Big Ten tournament. I love UC San Diego. The Tritons are really good. Yale is a team that beat Auburn in this very tournament a couple of years ago. They're going to play Mississippi State. I think they can win that game. So imagine UC San Diego and Yale playing on a Saturday, okay, in the second round. I think that could happen.

Further down the bracket, Drake, out of the Missouri Valley Conference, this is an outstanding team that's won 30 games. Most people haven't seen them until they won the Arch Madness Tournament in St. Louis. That is a club that as you look down the line, you say, how could they be that good? Well, they've got interior play and guards that don't turn it over. On the other side of the bracket, we look at Fridays. Ackron is going to beat Arizona.

Not a lot of people know much about the team out of the Mac, but the Zips are really good. The VCU BCBYU winner, I think, could give Wisconsin trouble in the second round. The Gonzaga team that has been so good for so long got a bad draw. They're going to be playing Houston, who I think is a number one seed that's going to get all the way through. I touched on McNeese State. I think both McNee's State today and High Point today against Purdue, we're talking 13 beating a 4, 12 beating a 5.

I think that can happen. Utah State is a team to keep an eye on that maybe most people haven't known that much about out of the Mountain West. These are really good basketball teams. But what that does, Todd, is it opens up for the next round for those top seats to get through. I think most people believe that this year, we're going to see multiple number ones.

The SEC's got 14 teams in this tournament. They lost Texas last night. Will's probably in mourning. That's one of the reasons he's not here, I'm sure. But Xavier, who won that game as an 11 seed, they, I think, could get all the way to the Sweet 16. That's a team out of the Big East that played its best basketball at the end of the year. My final four is Auburn, St. John's.

I think St. Johns is going to knock off Florida. Wow. I think the inexperience of Florida's coach, Golden is a great coach. He's built a super team, but beware of teams that reached their pinnacles in their conference tournaments. You don't want to peak at the wrong time. I think St. Johns has been on a slow percolating build to the top. Okay, Florida had a coronation last week when they beat the likes of Bama and Tennessee and Auburn to win. When you win a title in the SEC like that, you feel like you've already won the championship.

I think they can get to the elite eight, but I think St. Johns is going to take them down. So my final four is Duke, Houston, Auburn, and St. John's. Those are the four I have getting there. And I think Houston and Auburn will play for the title with Auburn cutting down the nets. Whoa, all right, all right. I know you just gave your picks. I do want to mention that there's a college basketball crown tournament on Fox. You announced the first round of games.

And Fox Sports wanted us to mention that. I want to mention to you there, Tim, that I have Auburn for two completely different reasons, one of which is embarrassing and one of which is a plug for my show. The first reason I have Auburn is because I had the picks done by the computer automatically and I just went with the best team according to the Lanky. That's what you did. You used AI, right? Himmer did the same thing.

No comment. Timmer and I are friends. Timmer used AI and then he called and then he got in touch with me. He said, Timmy, I'm not going to lie to you, I used AI, but I need your help on a couple of these. So I gave him some tips. But yeah, he admitted that he used AI. That's a mistake. That's a mistake in college basketball.

Admittedly, Hemmer and I more focused on football. We both don't have professional. We both don't have professional football teams in our markets, you know, bills from Cincinnati. I'm from New York. So there's no professional football. So we talk about college office. But here's the second.

reason I have Auburn. Bruce Pearl has been on my show. Fox and Friends First, which is on at 5 a.m. on the East Coast. So 4 a.m. Central time. He's been on twice. To talk about politics issues really didn't get into ball too much. But I just thought to myself, he doesn't have to do that. He was asked. He gave great interviews. And I really respected that. So Tim Brando, let this be a lesson. man. If you come on my show, you'll be, I'll be loyal to you for life. I am like a dog. All right, Tim Brando. Well, Todd, I've got no problem. Listen, Bruce is built a little bit wired, a little bit like me. We're old friends. I knew Bruce when he was in the system at Iowa and when he was coaching Division II at Indiana, Pennsylvania. I mean, I've known him a long, long time. I knew Bruce long before Pearl was cool. Okay, so we're wired similarly, and I'm in the Central Time Zone, too.

If you ever need me to come on your show, just lay it on me. I'll get up at that hour. My daughter interned on those shows back in 2012. Really? My daughter, yes, she did. She's an Ole Miss grad and interned at Fox News in the summer of 2012. That is awesome. By the way, Ole Miss, that's my dream.

I mean, my name is Todd, the Hot Todi. I need to go to a tailgate there at some point. And of course, you know, my city did have a football team. I grew up loving. They were called the New York Giants and their quarterback was Eli Manning. Eli Manning from Old Miss. So I do love the Old Miss. Before we let you go, I know I'm trying to talk to you like an equal news guy, sports guy.

But I'm also a 46-year-old who's grown up with your voice being the voice of games since I started watching games at eight, nine years old. So I just want to thank you. I've always admired your work. I've always thought you've done a great job. I love the energy you bring. I find so many times, you know, energy can carry across the finish line. I try to do it in my job. I've always felt it come through the television or radio when you've done it. And so it's been a pleasure and honor speaking with you today, sir. Thank you, Todd. You know, what we do, it's a privilege. It's a blessing. And I've been at this now for over 40 years at the national level, starting at ESPN. then later at Turner, CBS for 18 years, and now at Fox for 11.

And I feel as young and as vibrant today as I did when I called my first game, January 5th of 85 on ESPN with Dick Vital. And the reason for that is my love and my passion for what I do. I never thought I'd be doing anything else. There was a plan. I did have a plan and was able to follow it. But I now enjoy doing just the games more than I ever have. I'm not really thinking about what's next.

And I think when you get to my age, which is a couple of decades beyond you and Will, you really do have to find the fun in exactly what you do. We worry so often, I think, about things that are uncontrollables and maybe what's next. Sometimes we forget how much fun we're having in the present. And I tell young broadcasters, in sports especially, to never undervalue what you're getting to do right now. and thanks to Fox and the Crown is a great example of that. People say to me, tell me

about the Crown and I'm like, well, that's the tournament for the teams that didn't make the NCAAs, but they are looking to build. They're looking, players are looking to be found. And for those teams like Boise State that won 24 games and didn't get in, like Villanova, that's won two national

titles in the last nine years and played in three final fours since 2016, just got rid of their coach. They're still going to play out there. And I'm really amazed that Villanova is in the field. And that's fantastic. And to be a part of that, to be a part

of Fox's investment in the college basketball postseason with the crown out in Las Vegas, I'm as giddy about that as I am talking to you about this, the final four, and the NCAA tournament underway. And I've been involved with the tournament since 1988

and 87 when I hosted the first two rounds on ESPN when network television didn't even want to carry the first two rounds of the NCAA. So I've led a blessed life. Don't stop. You can do this as long as you want. And look at, look at Vince Scully, brother. Look at Vince Scully. He did it till another one. Look at the great. Burn Lindquist. Another great example. You know, the energy comes through the mic. You haven't stopped with the energy. You love it. We love listening to it. Todd, I'll leave you with this one.

Todd, I'll leave you with this. When Fox asked me, what would I be doing in 10 years when they hired me in 2014? I said, I don't know, but just I can bring you some stability and some experience. Let me be your Vern. I worked with Vern at CBS, and I learned so much from him. And I think those words, let me be your Vern is what helped them make the decision to hire me. And I'm really, really grateful they did. We talked about no-brainers on this show so far with the last segment.

hiring you, Tim Brando, a no-brainer. I thank you, sir, for getting on the horn with me here. Enjoy the call of the crown, and thank you so much. And I will hold you to that. You're going to get a call to get up in the middle of the night to talk ball on my show, whether it's college football, college basketball, some form of ball. It could be pickleball. Just get ready, Brando.

It's going to happen. As long as there's makeup and just for men, there's room for me to shine. I love it. Tim Brando, Fox Sports, Sports National Sports Commentator. Thank you so much for joining us. Amazing to have you on. And thank you to the fine folks at the Will Kane Show

for having me on today. I hope I didn't break the microphones. Will, I believe we'll be back tomorrow, holding down the fore for him just today. I thank you so much. Go out there and make it a spectacular Thursday. Hope your brackets aren't busted by the time you watch this. I'll see you.

Tomorrow morning, 5 a.m. Eastern. And on Fox and Friends First with my pal, Carly Shipkiss. Have a great day, everybody. 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 dot fox then come back here to see how you did thank you for taking the quiz