WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Hart on the Hill: Spending, Sanity, and Secrets

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

This week, Micah Hart discusses USAID, Trump's first cabinet meeting, a new book about President Biden's decline, and more!

Welcome back to another episode of Hard on the Hill. As always, I'm your host, Michael Hart, and I am so excited to be back in the studio talking about everything going on in the world of politics. We have a Republican trifecta in Washington, D.C. We have a lot going on in the international stage. There is so much to discuss, and I just want to get into it right now.

So first off, I want to just start with. We've talked a lot about Dirton. and government spending and how they're cutting it. So, USAID, which is the U.S. Agency for International Development, has been in the news a lot lately, and the Trump administration has been cutting things left and right. And so I was just reading an article from Fox News, and there were a lot of internal memos obtained by AP about how the administration is cutting 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts, which is about 15,000 grants worth.

$60 billion, and that's all set to be ousted. And so this internal memo really goes into what's really going on. And the Supreme Court put a temporary block on a court order that would have forced the administration to let go of just billions in aid and give it by midnight. But they said, no, we'll put a block on that. And so overall, this whole thing would eliminate 5,800 of 6,200 multi-year USAID contract awards, which would cut $54 billion. $4,100 of 9,100 State Department grants would be eliminated, which cuts $4.4 billion.

And so I want to talk about where a lot of this money is also going toward, because I think people can get upset when we're just cutting things, especially when you talk about a name such as U.S. Agency for International Development. That's very deceiving to me when you hear what the programs are going to fund. Like, international development to me would be supporting other countries in their fight for certain things that are probably beneficial to the U.S., right? Because that's what we should look at in foreign policy, too, is our relationships with other countries should be, as Washington put famously, interest guided by justice. And right now it just seems money guided by more money to other countries.

That's what it seems like. So I think it can get a little blurry now when you're calling it international development, and then you just start parading around certain things that really shouldn't be getting our money. So let's talk about what Joni Ernst. She's Senator from Iowa. She pointed out, and she's like the Doge Caucus chairwoman for the Senate, concerning about the spending. So more than $2 million for Moroccan pottery classes and all of that support. Trade assistance to Ukraine paid for models and designers to take trips to New York City, London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, and South by Southwest in Austin. The agency spent 2 million for tourism to Lebanon, of all places, and 20 million to create a Sesame Street in Iraq.

That's just a little bit of all of this, right? I'm sorry, why are we paying for Ukrainian models Moroccan pottery, Sesame Street in Iraq, and trips to Lebanon? I mean, I can't be the only person that sees this as a... joke. I mean, our government is spending our tax dollars on these ridiculous things that should not be getting our money. Our country is in enough debt and you're telling me we are sponsoring Sesame Street in Iraq. Like, give me a break. The American people are struggling. We have kids at home. We're watching Sesame Street but they're struggling at home because their families are struggling and you're not taking care of them the government, you're taking care of international development, which is just a guise for

spending whatever the government wants on whatever they want to do it, and they're just using this agency as a way to do that and using their administrators to get it done. It's ridiculous, and this cut is necessary. These are things we're looking at. Now, do I think sometimes that to be careful? Of course, you have to still look at where is spending needed, like Ebola prevention, which Elon Musk did mention at the cabinet meeting. These are things you obviously want to keep and make sure we're still keeping. But there are certain things that we can cut like these pottery class programs and things like that. Those are not things that are necessary to any of us. And they don't further our interest at all. Nor is there really justice in a pottery class really like I don't

think that it really supports what we're looking for. So I don't think these cuts are bad and people can say all they want, but this is how we need to look at the government. The government's not supposed to be everything for everyone. It never was supposed to. It was never just to provide for everyone. The U.S. can be a superpower, but that doesn't mean we have to be the provider of all things for everyone. We can't afford it. And we shouldn't have to afford it. Enough is enough. So now I want to talk about, so the first cabinet meeting was held this week. And it began with Peron. I just want you to listen to this real quick. You say, Grace, and they won't have our meeting, right? Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this awesome privilege, Father, to be in your presence. God, thank you that you've allowed us to see this day. The Bible says that your mercies are new every morning. And Father, God, we give you the glory and the honor. Thank you, God, for President Trump. Father, for appointing us. Father, God, thank you for anointing us to do this job. Father, we pray you will give the President, the Vice President, wisdom. Father, God, as they lead, Father, I pray for all of them. our colleagues that are here around the table and in this room, Lord God, we pray that we would lead with a righteous clarity. Father God, that as we serve the people of this country in every

prospective agency, every job that we have, Father, we would humble ourselves before you, and we would lead in a manner that you've called us to lead and to serve. Father, the Bible says, the blessed is a nation whose God is the Lord. Well, Father, we today honor you and in your rightful place, Father, thank you for giving us this opportunity to restore faith in this country and be a blessing to the people of America. And Lord God, today in our meeting, we pray to you will be glorified in our conversation. In Jesus' name, amen. So this just, I wanted to point this out very quickly because it really struck me a lot. It's like, we have an administration who is willing to start with prayer. That is huge. That is

huge for all of us, I think, everyone, especially me who I am a Christian. And I, that's really important to me. And I think that, look, they're guiding themselves. They're putting themselves where they need to be and saying, you know what? We are going to trust God in this. We are going to go forward and lead this nation. That's what we need. We need strong leadership who has morals, has values, knows what this country is and was and what was intended to be. That's what we need to go back to. I emphasize this that our country, I just said it in the last segment, was never meant to be everything to everyone. This country was meant to protect her people, meant to promote freedom and liberty, was not supposed to, John Quincy Adams says this, not supposed to go in search of monsters

to destroy. That's not what the country's supposed to do. The country is supposed to just live and support freedom here, support liberty, protect her citizens. That's what we need in America. That's what Americans need. They need stability. They need. They need. leadership. They need to get out of these hard times for so long. We have struggled. We had COVID. Then we had a tanking economy under Joe Biden. We had a southern border that was just open. We were a laughing stock on the international stage. The American people deserve better. They deserve leadership. They deserve somebody who's going to sit in the driver's seat and get it done. Not somebody who's going to be some passenger princess and just sit there and watch. That's not what we need.

somebody who's going to lead forward, but then realize, you know what, when it's time to let the American people just go and do their own thing, that's what they need to do. Joe Biden sat in the passenger seat for far too long, but then wanted to also have so much regulation and so much pressure that nothing could get done. He didn't care about the American people on certain things, and he just kept going, and we saw that the chaos unfolded throughout the country, throughout the world. So enough was enough and it's great to see an administration actually praying and actually centering this country back on ideals and principles. So now I want to talk about there is a book coming out called Original Sin, President Biden's

decline, its cover up and his disastrous choice to run again. Now you think this would just be written by some Republican who has been against Biden. It has called out his decline rightfully for the past several years. But no. It's written by, so there's two people writing it. One of them is Axios is Alexis, Alex Thompson, who I'm not going to take any qualms on this, but CNN's Jake Tapper is writing this book as well. And I find it so hysterical that Jake Tapper is on this. Is this to you, Jake Tapper? This was in October of 2020. Just take a listen. How do you think it makes little kids with stutters feel when they see you make a comment like that? First and foremost, I had no idea that Joe Biden ever suffered from a stutter. I think what we

see on stage with Joe Biden, Jake, is very clearly a cognitive decline. That's what I'm referring to. It makes me uncomfortable to watch somebody on stage. It's so amazing to me that. And try and figure out an answer. A cognitive decline. Well, when you're trying to tell me that what I was suggesting was a stuttering, I have a his stutter. Yeah, I think you were mocking his stutter and I think you have absolutely no standing to diagnose somebody's cognitive decline. I would think that somebody in the Trump family would be more sensitive to people who do not have medical licenses diagnosing politicians from afar. Plenty of people have diagnosed your father from afar and I'm sure it offends you, your father-in-law from afar, I'm sure it offends you. That was in October of 2020. And Laura Trump called out Joe Biden's decline. We all knew it. Republicans have known, I have said this. Republicans knew Joe Biden was on decline. Back then, we called it out as it was. And the media ripped us apart for it, saying, oh my gosh, that is so offensive as Jake Tapper did. And now he's trying to profit on it. Nikki Haley got criticized when she called for mental competency says here's Biden's press secretary, Green Jean-Pierre talking about this.

So as you just mentioned, the president has his physical this morning. It was very much the exam was straightforward. And as you all saw, he returned to the White House to get back to work. Again, I'm going to be very careful as I am speaking about a candidate. She's currently, as you all know, a candidate for 2024. So I am covered by the Hatchack. So I'm not going to speak to her directly in her comments specifically. But I will say this more broadly.

You know, we've heard these types of things. of attacks or remarks before and you know if you go back to 2020 they said that the president couldn't do it in 2020 and attacked him there and he beat them in 20 in 2021 when he entered the White House and worked to do his best to turn everything around with the economy tanking with no COVID real COVID comprehensive response the president got to work and was able to pass the American Rescue Plan with the help of Democrats in Congress and guess what they turned around. The left, this might have been the best cover up. The left literally protected Joe Biden until American people were finally like, oh my goodness, and the Democrats finally saw what the American people,

the Republicans also saw for four years. And they said, you know what? We have to put Kamala Harrison. And they did that. But now you can't just go, Jake Tapper, and sell this book and talk about the decline and the choice to run when you for four years continued to peddle the narrative that Joe Biden was fine. You can't just go and do that. It's a laughing matter. It's a joke. You can't just say, you know what? Yeah, actually, I'm not going to cough it off this. No, enough is enough. The meeting needs to take seriously what they did and get accounted for. This is ridiculous. For four years, they deceived the American people. They told us that Joe Biden was fine when he clearly wasn't. We saw what happened on that debate stage when he was against Donald Trump in the 2024 election. He could not

stand his own up there. He could not do. He could not answer the questions properly. We didn't deserve that in our presidency, and we needed a media that was going to be transparent with us and tell us what was going on, but they weren't, and nor was the administration. So stop trying to profit off of something that you lied about for so long. It's hypocritical. It's ridiculous. Shame on you, Jake Tapper. Shame on you. So now I want to talk about a member of Ohio. She is from Ohio's 9th district. She's a long-time Democrat Marcy Capter. She's been a member of the House since 1983. Yeah. And so I want to just play this little clip of hers of her going after Elon Musk. Here it is. Mr. Musk has just been here 22 years, and he's a citizen of three countries. I always ask myself the question with the damage he's doing here, when push comes to shove,

which country is he loyalty to? South Africa, Canada, or the United States, and he's only been a citizen, I'll say again, 22 years. So as you can see there, Representative Kaptor, Congresswoman Kaptur, goes after Elon Musk's And questions his loyalty to the United States because he's an immigrant who's been here for, what, over 20 years now? Give me a break. The left is making me laugh so much lately. They are all for immigration, all for bringing people in, except when it goes against him. And now she's questioning his support to the U.S.

You're questioning an American citizen and his support of the U.S. That is crazy to me. Crazy to me. Don't even get me started on that one. But the whole thing of immigration just makes me laugh because these are the same people who for so many years have just literally allowed people to just come into this country and do whatever they wanted.

And now we're talking about immigration and somebody being here and wondering if their allegiance is to the U.S. So Marcy Kaptur, you go and you tell me about that. You answer those questions. And I think you should have to answer those questions to the voters of Ohio's ninth. district, which, reminder in 2024, you only got 48.3% of the vote. Derek Marin got 47.6% of the vote. This is an easy race that in 2026, if you run again, Marcy

captor, you could be ousted. You have a big target on your back from Republicans. This is a district that they want. So Marcy Kaptur, you're going to have to answer to your constituents and say, why did you say that? Look, this is Ohio. Ohio is, I don't think a swing state much anymore. So good luck to her on that. And shame on her, though, for literally going after somebody for doing what he's doing in the government and trying to roll back and give the American people money. That is what Elon Musk is doing. Do I agree with exactly everything? No. I never will. I don't with anyone on 100% of everything. But I think what he's doing is crucial. We need to cut the spending in the government. Our government is bloated. Our government has a lot of waste. It has a lot of

irregular practices that need to be rooted out, taken out, gutted completely. We need to look at the administrative state and say, you know what? This is an issue. We have bureaucrats in there for their whole life and their whole careers doing what they want and Congress is allowing that to happen. That's not how it should be. So when you're looking at this, situation. We've got to say, you know what, Musk is doing a service to America, I think, and he's trying to do the best he can. Are there going to be mistakes? Yeah, there are. But we should be supportive of what he's doing. And we should call out people like Marcy Capter who are being hypocritical here and are going after him for just baseless reasons. It's not even on anything that he's

doing. It's just on who he is, the person, and where he's from. And so shame on her for that one. it's really horrible to see. So now I want to talk just quickly about Barnard College and everything going on there. So there's a lot we've seen obviously with Columbia University and stuff with pro-Hama students are like going in, taking control of these buildings, right? And that happened at Barnard College where they're taking over academic buildings. And it's ridiculous. Like I'm a college student, right?

I'm at college now. I would never do that. Look, hear this out students across the country who are listening. You are a student. Your first job is to go to class and learn. None of us have it all figured out. Let's be honest, we're in our early 20s. Do anyone have it figured out then?

I don't think so. No one will. That's the part of college you're going to learn to live. Stop protesting these things. Also, just stop protesting in support of a terrorist organization. That's the thing too. You're taking over these buildings being violent for a terrorist organization. I mean, that is ridiculous and insulting to higher education to our country and to all college students across the nation.

You make us look like jokes, and you are jokes. Hamas is a terrorist organization. They are thugs. They are murderers. They are nobody that we should be signing with on this. They are horrible, horrible, horrible people. So shame on these college students and college administrators need to be standing up to these students, need to be standing up for their other students and protecting them and making sure Jewish students feel safe on campus, making sure students can actually go learn because that's what you pay at college for. I'm not paying to not go to class. I'm not paying for Zoom classes. I'm not paying to just do homework online. I'm paying to go to class and learn from professors. I'm paying to get an education and to learn more. Maybe I can actually become a more informed citizen, become a more informed and well-rounded human being.

That's what college is for. You don't have everything figured out, I said. And that's what college is supposed to help you grow and become character-wise and academically. And these colleges aren't doing that in general. And now they're not doing it. I mean, you need to stand up for yourself and your institution. And you need to stand up for education and for this country. It's ridiculous that we've seen students get away with these things for several months at this point.

we saw it last year it's horrible and as a college student i just get so infuriated by it because i take my education so seriously i am blessed by this education i am fortunate to have a great education i would never do that that is shameful and you're not just ruining for yourself you're ruining it for everyone else so just stop just stop your protesting is ridiculous your protesting also is for a terrorist organization. So you know what? Maybe you just need to stop right now and actually realize what you're doing and what you're supporting because they wouldn't want you either. If you went over there to their Gaza or whatever, they wouldn't support you there either. So you know what? Maybe you need to look at that. Well, thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. That was a lot packed into just a little bit

there. But I'm happy we were able to talk about everything. Our country is so chaotic right now. There's a lot going on. But I think we're also seeing that. our country is starting to heal, our country is moving forward, that we are able to move forward after elections, we are able to get on and go forward. There is a lot of division, but we also need to find those moments of hope, those moments of opportunity to come together to talk about what matters to us, to just talk about all of these things of politics and move on and talk about our lives too and who we are as people. And that's what I always say on this show and I always will say it, but I am just so grateful for each of you taking time out of your days to listen to me,

hear me out, let me have my little rants here about what's going on in our world, because these really impact all of us, they impact every generation. I am of this new generation, and we are going to be loud voices, and I am excited that I am blessed to be a voice in that on this show. So thank you so much for listening to me and allowing me to explain what's going on in our world. I really do appreciate you taking time out of your week every week to just hear me out and explore politics with me. This is a journey we go through together, and I have been so blessed by our work together in talking about all these things and having you listen to me, ponder these questions.

I've been growing on this show, and I hope you have too, and it's been a blessing to also grow on the air as well, and for you to hear that difference and my thoughts on these things. So thank you so much. I hope you have a blessed week. Continue to live your life and enjoy every moment. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM and this is hard on the window.