WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Hart on the Hill: "He's so Back: Trump's Return to the White House"

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

This week, Micah Hart discusses President Trump's inauguration, his first few days in office, and the policies he is already working on fixing and implementing.

Welcome back to another episode of Hard on the Hill. Well, I don't get to do this often, but it's a new week. And we have a new president in the White House. So there's obviously a lot going on in Washington, D.C. right now. And there's a lot going on around the country and around the world as we start to see leadership shift in the United States of America. And without further ado, I just want to get into what is happening and what it's looking like in this country as we start a new chapter. a second chapter with Donald Trump as president. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear. I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute. That I will faithfully execute. The office of president of the United States. The office of president of the United States. and will to the best of my ability, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend.

Preserve, protect, and defend. The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Well, you just heard that. Donald Trump was officially sworn in

as president of the United States. It's his second term as president. Remember, it was not a consecutive term. Joe Biden served for four years between Trump's two terms now and look, Donald Trump is back in the White House and he is taking no time. He's just getting right to work.

But in his speech, I just want to take a second to listen to it and talk about it because his inauguration address was very well done in my opinion and discuss what America really cares about and Americans really care about. America will soon be greater, stronger, and far more exceptional

than ever before. I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country, sunlight is pouring over the entire world, and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before. But first, we must be honest about the challenges we face. While they are plentiful, they will be annihilated by this great momentum. that the world is now witnessing in the United States of America. As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust.

For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly incomplete disrepair. We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing, continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad. It fails to protect our magnificent law-abiding American citizens,

but provide sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world. We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders, but refuses to defend American borders or more importantly. importantly, its own people. Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina, been treated so badly.

So Donald Trump, President Trump, he talked about a lot of things that Americans, I think, are feeling and aware feeling during the election where they want a secure border. They want energy dominance. They want America to start putting. America first. They really desire a change and we saw that in the election and I think the president's speech emulated that and emulated this hope in America, this new day in America, writing a new chapter for America of American strength and American power. And I don't think Donald Trump is messing around at all. I think he's getting right to work. I mean, if you look at it,

on his first day in office, okay, in his first several days, he signed numerous executive orders According to Axios, I'm just going to list a few of them. He declared an emergency at the southern border, reinstated the remain in Mexico policy, declared a national energy emergency, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement. Those are just a few of the things that he did. That's more than Joe Biden did in four years as president, if we're being quite honest. Donald Trump has already gone in there and said, you know what, we're going to put America first. I made promises to the American people, and I am going to keep promises. for the American people.

I look at all of them and I personally say, good job, Mr. President. That is the way we lead in this country. Look, we have a crisis at the southern border. Just ask Lake and Riley's family, just ask all these people who have been affected by illegal immigrants who, some of them are very dangerous criminals, come in, kill people and are just allowed to stay in this country.

No, go back to Mexico. Go back to the country you came from. We can't have illegal criminals here. we can't have dangerous people running our streets, killing American citizens. It's a time to put the American people first again. And that's what Donald Trump has been saying he would do, and he's doing it. I mean, we're seeing images of people going on getting put back on planes and stuff and sent back to their home countries or wherever they're going. They're not staying here. We've seen the, people go in and taking them and actually allowing for immigration services to do their jobs and

do them well. That's what the president should. be doing in all cases, allowing these agencies to do their job and not prohibiting them, allowing the U.S. to secure our own border. You're not a country. If you don't have borders, that's just part of the definition of being a country, is having borders, having sovereignty. And Donald Trump is really showing that that is part of this. So I think that's great. And I think also looking, declaring a national energy emergency, yes, we need to start focusing on ourselves on energy and making sure we can supply for ourselves. We do not want to become dependent on everyone else. You do not want to be a dependent nation because then you're just at the will of another country and

if they say we're done, what do you do then? So this is where it's looking like America actually is going to be per person. We're going to protect ourselves. That hasn't been happening. It's starting to happen again. And the Paris climate agreement, again, this was huge. This is something I've been adamant about for a bit now and talking about, look, The U.S. gets into all these different agreements, right? And then we are expected to do more than other countries. We're expected to foot more of the bill or do more in terms of like fixing ourselves and all of our issues when we aren't the lead offenders of a lot of these things. But we're expected to do more because we're the United States of America.

And look, we should be leading, but we don't get bullied. We do not get bullied by these other countries who are worse off than us on climate. I'm thinking of China and India and places in that region that I think do more. harm than us and we've tried fixing things and doing things but you know what it's time to stop putting all the blame on america why would our leaders even do that that's horrible they're like we're bad and that's what we're seeing even taught is that america's bad all of this needs to stop and we're starting to see that get done on just the first week of this new administration so look whether you like him or not promises made promises are being kept and that's what you should want of your leader is to keep their promises

and Donald Trump is looking like he's pretty much doing that right now. So I want to just give an update on the cabinet situation for the president's new administration. So far, two of his nominations have been confirmed. Both Marco Rubio, who is now the Secretary of State and John Ratcliffe, who is now the CIA director, received the nod to get to work for President Trump and the American people. Rubio receives 99 votes and zero against his nomination. Ratcliffe received 74 votes in December. of his new role, meaning there has been some bipartisanship already to get to work, and that's what

the president needs. The president needs his people to get to work. He needs people to start getting things done, and that takes a team that he trusts, a team that he feels comfortable with. Every president should have the right to a team that they can work with and feel comfortable working with, because that's what matters at the end of the day. Even if you don't like a president, you still want them to do what they need to do to make sure this country, say if you want people in those positions of leadership who are qualified and committed to protect America to make sure that they do their job to the best of their abilities. That's what we really want in these positions.

So look, it's great to see some bipartisanship coming out of these things where it's like, you know what? We may disagree on some of the issues, but I trust you to be a strong leader, and I trust that you have the qualifications to get this job done. So I think those are two pretty easy ones, especially former senator now, Marco Rubio. He served as senator, now he's Secretary of State. He knew a lot of the senators.

Obviously, he's been in there for a bit now. He ran for president in 2016. So these people knew him, trusted him, gave them the nod of Heather quickly, so I wasn't surprised about that one I saw, and I was like, yep, that doesn't surprise me at all. Of the biggest note, though, that I want to talk about is Pete Heggseth nomination and the moving forward of it. So at the time of this recording, I'm just going to tell you where we stand on things. So the vote was 51 to 49. Two Republican senators actually voted against Hexas, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

The two had concerns about Hegss's past comments about women. serving in combat, according to AP News, Hegsteth is also dealing with claims of sexual assault that have made his confirmation rather difficult. To get the approval to be the next defense secretary, Hegsteth will need to get at least 51 votes, which could require J.D. Vance, the new vice president, to give a stamp of approval should it come down to a tie in the Senate. Republicans do have a bigger majority,

but still obviously you have to look at your more moderate Republicans and how they're dealing with this. Murkowski like Collins, people also who are up in 2026 for re-election, these things can come back to haunt them. And so it's very tough right now. You have to balance wanting to keep power in the Senate for Trump's full for years, but also getting these confirmations through. So it's really, it's much more than just surface level of things. There's a lot to be looked at here. And these people are not just thinking about one thing of like, how will this person serve in the administration? they're also looking at how will my career fare in the long run too probably because look that's part of this too is like how will i do because if i vote for this i could see media ads against me this or that from opponents in 2026 even 2028 so more so 26 so that's pretty close so people have to consider that when they're making any vote this isn't just senate nominations this is every any vote that they make is what is this going to also look like in terms of our balance of power in the senate so

I think that these two, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Columso, had a little more disagreement with Hegstuth, whose nomination has been pretty controversial for being honest, um, within the media, within everything. Just there's been a lot of fire exchanges and a lot of, um, fight and pushback. So we'll see how that goes. If he gets confirmed, who gets confirmed, we're still having some hearings and stuff and waiting on confirmation. So I'll keep you updated as we continue to hear more about all of these, uh, nominations, their approvals.

and what is starting to take shape in Trump's cabinet. So the House, I've already mentioned Lake and Riley today, but the House passed the bill. So according to a summary of the official bill, the Lake and Riley Act, it will, and I quote, this bill requires the Department of Homeland Security DHS to detain certain non-U.S. Nassanals aliens under federal law,

who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting. The bill also authorizes states to sue the federal federal federal government for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement, end quote. According to NPR, the Senate added an amendment focused on crimes that lead to death or serious injuries. It also included language about actions taking against illegals who assault law enforcement officers. Now, this is the first bill sent to Trump to sign. 46 Democrats joined the Republicans to pass this bill in the House. According to NBC, 12 Democrats in the Senate also voted with

Republicans. And there are some key senators I wanted to talk about who are up for election in 26. I mean, you have Gary Peters of Michigan, John Ossoff of Georgia, Janice Shanheen of New Hampshire, Mark Warner of Virginia. These are some of the people that are on this list. There's a, there are several people, Democrats, who supported this act in making sure that we protect our communities and we protect the people in our communities. And I think this is a great first step in the country. I mean, you see immigration is a top issue for President Trump. It's a top issue in the House and the Senate now, too, if you're looking at this legislation. It's working to make sure that American communities are safe again, secure. Again, we have a secure southern border. A lot of people,

I think, get really fired up about the issue of immigration because it's people's lives. You know, they're coming here. A lot of them leaving a lot of their lives and everything, just coming here for a new life, right and I do agree you know these are people a lot of these people you know you think of not all of them are horrible horrible horrible people right they're not all that way but there is a process you have to follow

to come here and you have to come here legally right even if you just cross the U.S. border right illegally even if that's all you do and you're not a bad person you're still breaking a law you're coming here illegally right you're not still fully innocent of

everything because you've broken that first law of just being here legally a U.S. citizen. So there is part of that too. It is like, look, people are just coming into the country illegally. And people want to make these arguments like, oh, shame on you for trying to take everyone out who's here illegally. There is a point, though, that these people were here illegally. And so, I mean, the Trump administration really has to do with how do you balance this on, make sure you're protecting your country and dealing with these very gray area cases too that are very tough and that's going to take Trump a while. I mean, he's already had some pushback on some birthright citizenship stuff. So we'll see if that holds up

what happens. I mean, I think there was a, there's temporary bans and stuff on some of those things, on those orders. But we'll see what really happens moving forward and how the president deals with a lot of this pressure, whether it be courts or outsiders, trying to influence his decisions on these things but look, Trump promised all these things and he's he's keeping to them. So you can't, you can't be upset with him. He told you what he was going to do. And people wanted him. And look, it shows what the government's supposed to do. They're supposed to work on the half of the people. And that's, he's doing that. He said he would do these things and now he's doing them. So that's something to really look at too as you're looking at how the government functions just in general

is that's really what they're supposed to do. And they're supposed to predict the interests of the American people. And I think that the president has had a strong. sway on that in his first few days in office. And we're going to keep covering, I'm going to keep covering this administration as it starts out in these next few months before I end this show. As I've said, this is a fair roll season. So as I end this show, we'll just be a few months in, but we'll be able to talk together through these next few weeks to just see how things are starting out. President Trump also named the Houthis again as a terrorist organization. It's an executive order that reverses the Biden administration's decision that removed this. So the Houthis, according

to the White House, are an Iranian-backed terrorist organization, and Trump put them back on the list of foreign terrorist organizations. They've had a lot of aggression in the Red Sea, according to the White House fact sheet on this designation, and I quote, as a result of the Biden administration's weak policy, the Houthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times, launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure and partner nations, and attacked commercial vessels, transisting Babes, and Mandeb more than a hundred times. Now, this is really interesting to look at the whole dynamic of what is going on abroad as well as here in our own country in this new administration.

This is a strong move by President Trump. This is a move that was necessary. Put them back on that list. They are terrorists. They are thugs. They're very horrible people. They are very horrible terrorist organization. And I am glad that he added them back to that list.

Biden did have a weak policy on this. He did not do it right. And look, Trump's reasoning, too, stays within the lines of his idea of America. First look, they fired at U.S. Navy warships, and they also launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure in our partner nations. So Trump is showing I stand with my people, first and foremost, and I stand with my allies. That's a strong move. And it shows, look, it shows the world, too.

We're not just sitting by and watching anymore. We're not just going to let you do whatever you want and roll over whoever you want. We're going to actually stand as a strong country once again with a leader who actually is going to say, you know what, no, you are a terrorist organization and I'm putting you back on that list. That's what leadership looks like. And they're Iranian back. Look, we cannot trust Iran. We cannot.

I've talked about this before. We cannot trust these countries. And look, it's in the Middle East, very tense region right now, still with Israel and Hamas and all of that. But Houthi still involved all of this, right? So we have to be very cautious of what we're doing there. And this is a strong move to show, you know what? I have the backs of my allies. I am going to stand with them through this all.

And I'm very happy that this was done because, look, we need to have a strong front on the Middle East specifically right now. I think I have concerns about Iran. Obviously, Hamas, the Houthis, as well, you get concerned with them and what they're doing. See, even this ceasefire deal, very shaky. And we obviously don't know what's going to happen through this whole thing. and if it will always just carry through. So you have to have a really strong presence in the Middle East.

And Trump is saying we're not going to get bullied here and we're not going to let you bully either. And it's something I am really, really appreciative of in this new administration is this strength and this conviction of getting things done and standing with our allies on these things and standing up for America too abroad. I mean, we saw with the last administration, so many failures abroad.

not just in this country, but also around the world. I mean, the Afghanistan withdrawal being the one I think of first and foremost, but also other things. I mean, we had Ukraine-Russia war going on. You had Israel and Hamas happening and all the atrocities that came with October 7th. And so we're seeing, I think, a new type of foreign policy. One I think that Trump is going to actually leave and actually get things done. And he's going to be very serious when he says something.

I mean, people sometimes just say, oh, they just said that, right? I think Trump will actually take action, whereas Biden would say things, and I don't think we saw a lot of action follow through. But Donald Trump, I think, will follow through in a lot of these things, and people should not be messing with him countries. And these horrible organizations, terrorist organizations, shouldn't be messing with President Trump because he is a strong leader. And he means what he says, and he will get things done on this account. I mean, we saw his first term how strong he was and how muscular his foreign policy was. and how muscular also his policies here were at home and how people did it prior to COVID.

Let's talk about too. That's an important part of the distinction here with President Trump is let's talk about prior to COVID how the country was doing because it's unfair, I think, to lay all the blame on him during COVID. When that wasn't something that he just manufactured in this country, right? It's not his fault for that. And so I think we have to give him credit where credit is due on those things.

Well, thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. of Heart on the Hill. Truly, it's been a blessing to talk to you today about everything going on in politics. There's so much always going on and it's a crazy time in the world right now. And look, there's going to be a lot of changes I think in D.C. in our government. But I'm going to be here covering all of it talking about everything going on and how we can look at it and what our perspectives can be on it and how to process all of it because there's a lot to process in it. I'm just trying to take a few things, boil them down in a few minutes a week for you to see what's going on in our country. and where I think our country is heading and moving toward. And I am so thankful for this opportunity. So thank you so much. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7M.