WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Hart on the Hill: Administration, Allies, and Accountability

Episode Date: February 23, 2025

This week, Micah Hart discusses the 2026 Senate races, DOGE, Israel, and more!

Welcome back to another episode of Hard on the Hill. It's great to be back in the studio today talking about everything going on in politics. There is so much to talk about. I am so happy to be here. If you don't know, I'm your host, Michael Hart, and I am a senior here at Hillsdown. I'm so excited to discuss everything going on in our world right now. There's a lot. We have a president who's been in office for about a month now in here in the United States,

and we are going to cover everything today. So let's just jump right into it. First off, we got some big political news yesterday, and I know we talk about elections a lot on this show, and I'm a big election campaign nerd, so that's what I love to talk about. But Mitch McConnell said yesterday, he is not going to run for another term. So that puts another seat up in the Senate. And this is pretty early on. We're seeing a lot of these things happen where now let's just talk about the places we've seen already. Current senators say they're not running. And that's Kentucky with Mitch McConnell, Minnesota with Tina Smith, and Michigan with Gary Peters. Now, this is going to set up a really interesting map, I think, specifically looking at, I think Kentucky will stay solid red, right? I mean, if you look at it, the last Democrat elected the Kentucky as a senator from Kentucky was Wendell Ford, whose term ended in 1999.

The state has a Democrat governor, though, and it's Andy Beshear, and he has served as the state governor since 2019. So that is an interesting little fact to know and to consider in all this. But I think Kentucky is going to stay solid right, obviously. We'll see who replaces McConnell. But I mean, if you're looking at this as Republicans looking at 2026, you want to keep the Senate, obviously, so you can give Trump those four years of more ability to get things done. So Kentucky, obviously, you want to keep that.

Minnesota is an interesting one because people have looked at Minnesota and said, maybe we could win it this time as Republicans, maybe not. So we'll see. Democrats have had that one the last time Republican controlled that Senate seat in Minnesota was 2009 when Norm Coleman lost re-election. So Minnesota, we'll see what happens there. We'll see, obviously, the one I'm watching the most is Michigan. Of course, I live in the great state of Michigan right now at Hillsdale College. Gary Peters is not running again. And we had, if you remember, as Senate election here in 2024, it was an extremely close race. Mike Rogers. who is Republican candidate received 48.3% of the vote to Senator now, she's Senator. Slotkin's 48.64% of the vote. Very close race. Last Republican who a Senate here was Spencer Abraham and his term expired in 2001. So it's been a bit, but look, Republicans did well in the state. Trump won in 2024. So we'll have to see, obviously, midterms can be tough for the incumbent party. so we'll see if that has any role in any of this or if Trump is able to break through,

if people are really impressed, his approval rating is looking pretty nice. Right now, it's early on. So obviously there is this honeymoon phase we talk about. But overall, it's still better than his first term levels of number and support. So we'll see if that has any impact on this. But it's really fascinating to see this early on that we're seeing these Senate races already starting to get going because people are not going to run again. and I honestly respect the decision on not running again a lot of the time.

I think if you just know your time is done, you want to spend more time with family, or you know what, you're getting older. It is time to move on. There are new generational leaders that we can bring in who can actually bring change as well. And I think that's a lot of part of the conversation. I'm also feeling as somebody who is younger in the electorate is we want people who represent our voices as well, a little bit younger, haven't been involved, for several decades, which we do appreciate their work that they've done it. We are thankful for

everyone who serves in our Congress. They do work for the people. And so we are appreciative of that. But there also is a point where it's time to move on and allow people with different voices from different generations to also move in and talk about issues that affect us because obviously a lot of the things that are getting to side on budget and other policies do affect us a lot more this time around and continually now because we are now taxpayers who have to deal with a lot of this of debt specifically debt that's a big thing i get concerned about as a young american is the debt that this country is in we are at a huge number in our debt and we just keep seeming like we're spending we cannot just keep spending it's not just an endless credit card you can do whatever

i can't do that i have to have a budget when i go shopping i just can't just keep spending whatever i want i don't have that money so why can't just keep spending whatever i want i don't have that money so why can the government do that and it shouldn't be able to. We should be saying, no, we need to have some restrictions. We need to look at funding. And I think that's why it's great. And I'll get to this a little later too, is Dojan, what they're trying to do and look at the spending in the government because we need to rein in spending for far too long. Government has just spent our money and not cared about it. They've just taken it and run with them and said, we're going to use it how we want. And they're not looking at the taxpayers' hard-earned money is going towards that. Should we be doing that? Or is there a way

actually we can get around this and make it so that we're working for the people again. But all of this to say, though, in all of this big little ramble I've been going on here, is it's going to be an interesting race, I think, in 2026. We're going to see a lot of different dynamics, I think, play out in these different states. Again, I said I'm watching Michigan very closely. I'd watch all of those states closely. Obviously, when you don't have an incumbent, those primary challenges are going to be very interesting to see who ends up getting the nomination, how that affects it.

But I think the biggest one here is Michigan. There are other races across the country, too, that are going to be very close. So I'll be monitoring that. And if there's any more news, I will definitely share all of that. So Trump has just said he's backing the idea to send some of the Doge savings, which is the Department of Government Efficiency, savings to the U.S. citizens. That's great. I want to take a listen to this clip right here of him actually.

saying that, though. I love it, a 20% dividend, so to speak, for the money that we're saving by going after the waste and fraud and abuse and all the other things that are happening. I think it's a great idea. How much money do you think? Could be a lot. I mean, if it's 20%, would give back a lot of money to the taxpayer. And also it'd give an incentive for the taxpayer to go out and report things to us where we can save money. So Trump did say this, as I said, and he is really trying, I think, to give power back to the people. And I talked about this in the last segment of this, where we were talking about spending and fiscal policy.

And look, we spend a lot of money as a country. And this Doge program is trying to show, here's where there are issues in our government spending. We do spend recklessly, it seems like we just spend money on things. So when we can look at it and say, where can we save the taxpayers money, Let's do that. And then also, we should be sending these back to the U.S. citizens. It's their money. It's not the government's money. They can do with it what they want, but at the end of the day, it is the American people's money. And that is the power as well. Power to vote. And we pay taxes. We deserve to get something from it, right? And it doesn't seem like that happens all the times. So when Trump says he wants to give it back to some of these savings back to U.S. citizens, I think that's great. We should be wanting people to get their money that have this.

money. It's not the government's, as I said, it's people's money. And so we have to look at all this in regard to how people live their lives as well. Like, people struggle a lot of the time and it's hard financially. So any money will help. And I think this was really a strong point by the Trump administration is let's find where there is waste in our government. Let's find where we can actually cut on spending, give back to the taxpayer and make this better for every. everyone. Because look, let's be honest with ourselves too. We have a bunch of people in Washington, D.C., working in the bureaucracy, who we don't elect and they just get to do things. How does that make a bunch of sense, where it's just these random people who can do whatever they

want, really, and they can seem to get away with it. And it's because also Congress has just given them that ability. Congress is the one who's supposed to legislate. Make that make sense. where we're getting these agencies who for far too long have tried legislating and getting things done when that power should be vested in Congress. It's ridiculous to me. And we need to start looking at it, which is what the Trump administration is doing, is let's take a look at why we have so many employees and so much going on here that some of these people don't even support the mission of the president, right? That's also just another topic to discuss. But look, I think it's a day of accountability, and that's what we should want in our government is

our government needs to be held accountable. They need to know that they are responsible to the American taxpayer at the end of the day, that they can go back to their district and they can say, I did this for you, I did that for you. I gave you that money back that you paid to us because you trust us, you're giving us your hard-earned money,

we delivered for you. But also here are some nice savings. I think that's a great way to look at all of this as well. So I was doing some reading over the last few days on AP, routers, a lot of these different sites and just reading about Israel. I always talk about Israel. It's a topic that's very close to me and my heart and just I love to just raise awareness on this because I don't think it's talked about enough. I think people talk about it, but I don't

think we're approaching it sometimes the right way. So I just want to talk about what we saw yesterday and over the past few days with Israel. So on Thursday, Hamas returned four bodies of hostages back to Israel. Now, it was supposed to include an elderly man and a mother and her two children, who were infant and a four-year-old. According to Rutter's bodies were the children, the children's bodies were brought back, but the third was not the mother. And it remained unidentified since it did not belong to another hostage. It's an unidentified woman. Hamas said they will give six more hostages over to Israel on Saturday, and will get hundreds of pelicans.

Palestinians back in return. Four more bodies, however, will be given back to Israel next week, and this will conclude phase one of the ceasefire. But it is unclear if it will last, with the new administration and Trump's calls for the United States to go into Gaza and rebuild it, which would include the removal of Palestinians from the area. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio released a statement yesterday over the last few days. He's talked about this, obviously, but he said in a statement recently, on October 7, 2023, terrorists in Gaza abducted a mother, her child, her infant son, and an 83-year-old man, and murdered them. More than 500 days later, Hamas returned them to Israel and coffins. We extend our deepest sympathies for the victim's

families who have suffered the unimaginable. Hamas is evil, pure evil, and must be eradicated. All hostages must come home now. That was before we found out about that the body was not the mother. This was before that, just to preface that. But I just want to talk about everything going on because it's truly heartbreaking. I was on Twitter and just, or X now, as it's called, and I was just looking through everything. It breaks my heart.

You see these videos of people celebrating in the streets, Palestinians, Hamas, celebrating in the streets as they bring these bodies through, of these infant, this infant and this four-year-old, and what was supposed to be the mother, and they're celebrating. They're not just bringing them in least. them and giving them to Israel, right? They're actually celebrating. There's no remorse in it, it seems like.

It's pure evil, as the Secretary of State Margherbio said. This is disgusting. Hamas needs to be gone. This is so unimaginable as I'm just talking about. It just breaks my heart that this family died at the hands of these terrorists, and people can't get it in their heads that this is a terrorist organization. It just doesn't make sense to me. They're celebrating the deaths of innocent people, and they killed them because they're Jewish, because of who they are.

That was it. That is disgusting. And you know what? We need to support Israel. I talk about this so much, and I am clear on this. Make my words. Mark my words clear here. We must support Israel and what they do.

They have a right to do what they need to do. They need to finish Hamas, and now. Hamas is a terrorist organization. As I say, people who don't describe it as that are ridiculous. They are celebrating murder. They're celebrating death. They're celebrating going in, killing all these people on October 7th, taking hostages, killing hostages.

What is wrong with these people? When will people say enough is enough? We need to continually support Israel. That, it needs to happen. We just need to say, you know what, Israel? You need to do what you need to do. And we'll support you 100% on this. because Israel is fighting for their existence.

And I really don't know how much anymore a two-state solution could even be possible when you look at things like this. And I've seen that all over the news too of people like, I don't think it is possible. And you know what? That's probably right. It really probably isn't anymore. And you can't blame Israel for that. Israel's standing up for their sovereignty and their people. That's what leaders are supposed to do.

A leader of a country and leaders in a country are responsible to their people. That's it. The people who vote for them, the people who are under their jurisdiction, that's who they're responsible for. That's what they take care of. And Israelis were killed. Israelis were slaughtered, massacred. These terrorists went into homes, went into communities, went to music festivals, and killed people. These are thugs. These are criminals. These are murderers. These are people we should, no one should be siding with on. this. I think that there's definitely humanitarian things to look at here, right? We should never want innocent people to die. That's always, we should always be like we want innocent people to be protected, right? But you also have to look at the fact that these are, Palestinians, we're bringing their little children out to watch babies be carried in body bags back to be brought back to Israel. Why would you bring your kids to that to watch this? It, it really, really does make you wonder about Palestine in general about these people and what they're supporting

because they're bringing people out to watch this. And I was watching in horror as I just saw these celebrations happen about murder of an infant of four-year-old, a mother, an elderly man, all these people. I was watching in a horror yet these people were bringing their kids. What is wrong? What is wrong with them? And I sound so frustrated because I really am at this point. It just breaks my heart. It breaks my heart. These people, Hamas needs to be wiped off the face of this earth. And now, time and time again, we just need to get this done because it's not fair. It's cruel what they've done. And the fact that Israel has been put on blame on this is ridiculous and shameful. And we really need to continue watching this situation. We need to be praying for the people of Israel.

we need to be praying for the world because this is just this is a heartbreaking a heartbreaking thing so i want to just end today discussing a little bit about um the cabinet giving an update on the cabinet you know i always talk about this and i've been giving updates a little bit throughout on the cabinet so we've 18 confirmed so that's pretty good early on this early on you obviously I've talked about Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, Scott Bassett, Treasury, Pete Hague, Seth, Defense, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Interior, Doug Bergum, Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, Commerce, Howard Lutnik, Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, HUD, Scott Turner, Government of Transportation, Sean Duffy, Energy, Chris Wright, Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, DHS, Christy Noam, EPA, Lee Zeldon, ODNI, Tulsi, Gabbard, SBA, Kelly Laughler, OMB, Russell Vaught, and CIA, John Ratcliffe. And then there are a few more, obviously, left to be decided on and to get confirmed. But let's just quickly talk about how fast this happened.

It seems slow to some people, but I think it's rather fast. I'm very impressed with the speed that they've been doing this. I mean, obviously, we want to get the rest of them done and confirm so we can move on and get this done and make sure that the president has who he needs to have. And that's what we should all want for any president is have the people they want. if obviously they're vetted properly and they can go in there and serve the president, because we should want our country to succeed. Whether you agree with the president or not,

you should want your country to succeed and do well. That is just something we should all want for our country. I believe that of any administration. I don't agree with policies from certain administrations, but I do also want our country to succeed, and I hope that they do the best they can as a leader, right? That's what we should want. But here we're looking at, they're doing this pretty fast,

they're trying to get this through because Trump needs, who he can to get this done, make sure he's getting his policies carry down. He has a lot of policy goals. So it's definitely really surprising me how effective this has been. And it's definitely different than last time around. I think there's a lot more unification in the Republican Party this time around. There's a lot more willingness to work together. I mean, even from moderate Republicans who have elections coming up, I think we've seen a lot more ability to work together and get this stuff. And I think there's also a lot more in the electorate.

I think the electorate changed a lot since 2016 as well. And wants different things. I think the border obviously comes to the top of my mind on this, the economy. And these are, I think, reasons why Trump won. But I also think there are reasons why people voted Republicans, the majority for the House and Senate as well. People wanted something new. They wanted a change.

They wanted, it was a mandate essentially to govern, to actually govern, unlike Joe Biden, who just sat there for four years, right? Like, people actually wanted things to get done in the economy to get better. They wanted the border to be safer. They wanted their lives to be better. And I think that was part of the reason. So Trump needs these people in these positions to start doing that and continue doing that. And it seems to be happening rather quickly.

So obviously, as I said, you should want that as a American people, if it's a person vetted properly and they go through all these hearings and stuff and there, no concerns come up, they should just be brought through and allowed to go serve the president. And we're going to keep covering this administration. It's early on, a month in, but it's still, it's crazy to me, we're only a month into this because it just so much has been done and so many things have already changed in the White House. So it's definitely going to be, it's going to be a long four years, but it's also going to be, I think, a four years full of policy and full of changing the direction of this country. I mean, I don't think a lot of people were optimistic about where this country was.

Obviously, that's why you have these elections where they're kind of. consequential on things change. The path changed rather quickly. And I think we're seeing that now where you can have an election and in an instant you can get a change right when that new administration takes over of drastic differences that are happening. I mean, we're seeing that unfold day in, day out as we watch the news, as we see everything going on in our country. And I really do think that. So we'll see what happens with all of that. Well, thank you for tuning in today to another episode of Heart on the Hill. I am so thankful that you decided to take a listen today, it is always an honor to talk about everything going on in our world.

Always remember just to enjoy life and enjoy what you're doing, that politics isn't the end of everything. You don't have to always be looking at everything going on in our world. You should be interested in trying to look, but you shouldn't always just be focused on it. And you should not allow it to divide you and divide your friendships, divide your relationships, divide your life. Because at the end of the day, we are all people. We all have souls. We all have spirit. We all have these other things that are not politics. And that's what I'm I try to live my life like, and I hope you do as well. So thank you so much for tuning in to Heart on the Hill and have a great day.