So, Pete Hegseth joins us now. Pete, great to see you. Congratulations on the book. Hey, Brian. Of course, this is my first radio interview for the book. I would go nowhere else.
How many people have you turned down that wanted to be your first... A lot of people. Right. And like you can't name any right now. Like Mark Levin. I said, Mark, hold on.
I got to do Brian Kilmeade. And by the way, he would take that well. If you ever thought to say that.
I saw you on Sunday. Great job selling the book. He was very kind. Yes. So, he does a great job and he's on board. Well, you interviewed him for his book. Yeah.
It's mutually... He's on his show. Yes. It's weird when you take over someone else's show and then interview them about their book.
But he can do it. Yeah. First, I'd like to talk about this because we have 40 minutes of quality time together, which I know Jen, your wife, is jealous of. Very much so. Right? Because she does not get 40 minutes with you. No, this is the hour we had to be together. You're in two locations, seven kids. Yeah.
And you took it. But Senator Kennedy now speaking now, do you think possibly, not think for Pete Hegseth, but think in the big picture with 200 million people in America eligible to vote. Do you think possibly anyone's buying the fact that Republicans are stopping immigration reform? No, but what the White House is counting on is stemming the tide enough that it's not on the front page of the newspaper or in the A block of news shows that people watch by the time September, October, November comes around. This is only a cynical political ploy by Democrats.
Biden's already cut a deal with AMLO down in Mexico. They've effectively... He's had leverage for a long time to say, hey, I can stem the tide too.
And that helps you out. So they've already been trying to slow the flow. No one's going to believe that this is a serious attempt to stop what's been happening at the border because it's came so late. It came after they said they didn't have the power. It came after they scrapped every single thing that Trump had done that had worked. So no, it won't.
I don't get it. I guess they just know how bad it is politically for them. And they're going to try to take it off the front page.
And they'll try. And you have Senator Schumer here with all his power, got two issues, anti-Semitism raging in New York City. And he also has illegal immigrants taking over New York City, costing us billions of dollars. You would think the most powerful Jewish American in the country, in our history, would be using some of that leverage, some of that power to say you're destroying cities with the movement of these illegals to major cities, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
But most of all, New York, but he's not. What is he using it on, actually? I don't know. Energy drinks. Is that what it is? He comes out against energy drinks, Zinn.
He came out against Zinn. So he's going the Michael Bloomberg route, the nanny state route. Right.
Well, yeah, it works so well. Although we do long for Bloomberg days, at least there was some type of- It did look wonderful back then, yes. Organization. But last year, in terms of illegal immigrants, we had 3.2 million illegal immigrant encounters at the border. Now, on average, we had 8,770 a day. Now he says he's gonna shut it down if there's any over 2,500. First of all, I don't believe that.
They're gonna be lagging. How do you do it? Is there a big bell? Where's the count? When do you throw the gauntlet down and stop it? You don't.
It's all fake. Remember, Jay Johnson was on your program saying multiple times 1,000 encounters a day was a catastrophe. Now we're content with anything south of 2,500. And all they want to avoid is the summer of Bidenville of illegals stuck under a bridge and the visuals of Bill Mollusion and Griff Jenkins on the border covering it wall to wall. Make no mistake, that's all they're trying to avoid. And they won't be able to completely avoid it cuz they can't shut the border down. And one thing Trump did say, I don't want this done. One of the main reasons is he doesn't like the legislation. Number two is we got one shot at this.
They're not gonna redo immigration reform. That's right. He thinks he's gonna win. And he says, I'm gonna do it.
I know how to do it. And he'll probably get the first time, so different from 2016. He'll get Democratic support, I believe, to get this passed. Some.
I mean, remember, TDS is a real thing. Yes, there are political implications here. But you will get some reasonable Democrats to contemplate it.
Although Manchin and Sinema left. Yeah, but it's gonna be as partisan as it's ever been, Brian, even on an issue like this. Cuz they're gonna stand and say, we had a bill you could have voted on.
It was reasonable, it was strong, it was tough. Trump obviously didn't like that bill for the right reasons. It would have tied his hands in a future administration. It's not gonna be bipartisan. There's gonna be nothing bipartisan about Trump's approach to the border in 2024, I mean, 2025. Democrats are gonna call him a horrible, I mean, mass deportations. They're gonna politicize and weaponize that in ten seconds. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is gonna be on the border crying at the fence like she was before.
Making it look like Donald Trump is the Gestapo when all he's trying to do is reinforce the rule of law. I'd like to think there's room for bipartisanship, I don't see it. So here's what Meredith McGraw said on special report last night.
She's from Politico, cut seven. This has been one of President Biden's biggest weaknesses. And his presidency has really been tied in a lot of ways to his record with the border. And he's needed to show that he can do something, anything to show that he's taking this border crisis seriously. But we don't know what's gonna be in this executive order. I imagine he's gonna get pushback from progressives and from liberals. You think?
Yes, exactly, for potential asylum. But at the same time, Republicans are gonna be saying, this is too little, too late. And we'll have to see if it makes any dent in his polling, which is really underwater on this issue. It is, and did you see the poll in the New York Times, said Gallup, for the first time, the majority of the country is for mass deportations?
I did see that, yeah, staggering. This is one of those instances- You're still cynical about might be more momentum behind it? Still cynical. Do you think Trump wants to finish that wall? Do you think everybody stays in his way again? I think most Democrats stay in his way. Yes, I just think the strength of the pull of the hard left on the fundraising dollars and the incentives of Democrat politicians is still more powerful than common sense solutions that relieve the lives of their constituency. That's a sad statement to make. But they're not gonna suddenly turn and be like, yes, we are for a really strong border after doing nothing about a porous one. First of all, it's an admission of failure too. This is one of those instances, it's like the Israel-Palestine issue with his White House.
There's a verse in the Book of Revelations where it says, you're either hot or you're cold, but if you're lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. And that's what voters are doing to Joe Biden right now. He's not pro-Israel, and he's also hasn't done everything the far left wants to do to get a ceasefire. So no one supports him.
Same thing with this border issue. He didn't do anything to secure, he left it wide open meaning sensible common sense Americans despise his approach. And then when he goes to try to do something which will be lame and half-assed and everything, sorry, on the border here with an executive order, the far left is gonna say now you're Trump 2.0.
He can't win because he hasn't stood for anything other than himself. So I was at Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, and I had a chance to see and to know your book and I was reading on the way out. And you're very down on the state of the military right now. Yeah, when I went to Fort Liberty, I could not believe the quality of people I saw there.
And they said, well, Brian, that's because you got the best of the best. I mean, we have a lot of special operators there, but a lot of 20-somethings that look like triathletes and a lot of 40-somethings that don't wanna give up the uniform. And the general I was with is probably in his, just turned around 50, and he's still the one designing most of the operations to take out ISIS around the country, around the world. But the military that you fought in 9-11, after 9-11, you believe has dramatically changed from the one we're experiencing right now in 2024. It doesn't mean there aren't great units. It doesn't mean there still aren't fantastic outfits. I refuse to call it Fort Liberty.
It's indicative of the type of emphasis and priority that they're putting on. I saw that segment, I thought you did a great job. The zipline was fun to watch.
Well, I mean, I had to jump off of. It was ridiculous. What these men do, what these men and women do is phenomenal. But you get almost any of these generals and colonels in a candid moment where they're willing and able to compare the military of today in standards and ethos and philosophy versus the military of say 15 years ago, and they will admit to you, it's different. The training courses, ranger school, airborne school, air assault school, the formal standards and other standards have all shifted.
Why? Because the leadership, civilian leadership has said, well, we need more women in this area or we need more of this in this area. Well, men and women are different, fundamentally different. And as a result, if you want more women in an area, you have to change or as the military likes to say, evolve the standards to make it more accessible and inclusive for everybody.
That has a downward pressure effect on the utility and the capability of the unit. Or take a unit that now is going to be told in five years, you're going to use electric tanks or electric Humvees. The same quality Americans are in those vehicles, but some general somewhere bowed to a political ideologue and is pushing something they know won't work and be as effective on the battlefield. So I saw that.
I know there are great people out there. I know I'm going to get pushback from people at the Pentagon, but a lot of those elite units are somewhat insulated for now from some of the nonsense. You talk to the rank and file in more conventional units and it's ubiquitous. And the inmates are running the asylum and the standards are dropping. When did it start? Was it existing under Trump? Was it beginning to flourish under Trump? It began in earnest under Obama, big time. It started with the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and that was under Clinton. So you had a lot of, some of it there, but it really started in earnest under Obama when they focused a lot on the Pentagon and they wanted to bring to heal this meritocracy and they wanted to use it to change the environment. It started with the change of women in combat. That was a big one.
That was 2015. The services pushed back. The Marine Corps did a whole study, Brian, where they showed that all male units versus integrated units, male, female units are a lot more effective. And the Secretary of the Navy at the time, Ray Mabus, just threw the study out and said, I don't care, integrate.
And that's indicative of the mindset of when political minded people push into units. Trump did a lot to stem the tide. Remember, he banned transgenderism in the military.
Biden brought it right back. And we pay for you to transfer to a different sex. Correct. But now the whole DEI CRT thing, it's moved into the military academies. Even though it's moving out of places in corporate America.
Fair enough. It's not as easy to move it out of top down institutions where there's a directive and an order. So it's moving in, it's entrenched in military academies. It's entrenched in promotion philosophies, meaning it's not, do we have enough qualified pilots? It's do we have enough black pilots? Do we have enough female pilots?
Do we have enough trans pilots? These are the types of things that commanders are asking those questions, which a question by a commander is actually an order. And so the unit starts to change who it's promoting and why. None of that has anything to do with fighting and winning wars.
And my argument in the book is, let's go back to focusing on having the most lethal force possible, not the most diverse. And by the way, great timing on Father's Day, because this is a perfect Father's Day book. The War on Warriors Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, Pete Hegseth, as a book addict, just came out, it comes out today. Came out today. Came out today.
So if you pre-order it, check your inbox, it's there or it's on its way. So Pete, don't move. We're gonna talk some more about this when we come back because we also have a cut. We have two conflicts, high conflicts right now that we might soon be directly in.
Also, we tried to build a platform outside Gaza. Didn't really work out too well. We never thought it would be stormy. Don't miss a minute. Don't move, Brian, kill me.
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And while you're here, we hope you subscribe to the podcast, like, subscribe and share. No, this was an Israeli proposal. We have every expectations that if Hamas agrees to the proposal, as was transmitted to them, an Israeli proposal that Israel would say, yes, again.
Well, all you get in in a yes right now, George. And it's not it's not a small thing, but what you get is the start of phase one. So you get some hostages coming out, initial hostages. You get some calm.
You get some more humanitarian assistance, maybe up to 600 trucks. And then the two sides can start talking about phase two. That is Admiral Kirby talking about the peace deal that it was originally the Israelis.
It wasn't. And it was about a deal that they're jamming down Israel's throat. And they actually came out with this statement last week. Joe Biden, Hamas is no longer the threat it was.
Therefore, let's talk about a ceasefire that can turn into something permanent and using taxpayer dollars, we have to begin to rebuild Gaza. It is sickening. Pete Hegseth knows it. He joins us now. His book is now out. It's called The War on Warriors. Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free. Your thought about this, Admiral Kirby's statement, the president demanding that this come to an end. Admiral Kirby strikes you as a smart guy. You wonder how how much he knows he's just lying about this.
I mean, this is a that was kind of you say you wonder this is you know an admiral knows. You have to know this is Hamas's plan. This Hamas loves the plan. It's a plan built for Hamas. Joe Biden spun it as if it was Israel's idea when no one you know, you and I both know people inside Israel who were dialed into politics. This was nobody's idea. This is nobody's desire. Everyone wants the hostages back.
That's that's no doubt. But if you hand over a ceasefire that effectively is indefinite, don't allow Israel to finish the job. And then phase two is an end to the war. And and America takes refugees and helps rebuild.
That's not a plan. That's not that's how you get perpetual war. This is this is a big part of the book. And I'm not trying to just plug the book, The War on Warriors. The reason why our wars went on for 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan is we were never truly allowed to finish them. And in Israel, we know there's 4000 at least Hamas fighters in Rafa that, you know, multiple brigades that Israel would like to kill or capture, preferably kill, and in doing so completely eradicate the opportunity for Hamas to rebuild. And they're being told no, which means they won't be killed, which means they will reconstitute, which means they are the most powerful aspect of Gaza. And the war will continue. So here's the thing.
You want this to end, but you're making them slow down. Correct. So you're going to have they're going to go into Rafa. You know, the Israelis better than I do.
You've been there a number of times, done features on them. It's all on Fox. They will do it. So they have to go in. But you're making them go in in a way in which they're not comfortable.
I believe they wanted to come in from two separate sides with two separate divisions. Just take the whole place. They go, you've got to be kidding me. We will not sign off on that. But now they're moving slowly, which is the law gaining everything, bringing more pictures that they don't want and their discovery. It makes it harder in the IDF to actually do it this way, too.
They're going to lose more guys. You're exactly right, Brian. Why are we doing this? Why are we dictating the terms of another country's war? You mean General Biden doesn't have experience doing this?
Oh, you mean double face shield? Lloyd Austin isn't just nailing it right now. Guys, a joke. C.Q. Brown, I read about him in the in the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
He's no better than Mark Milley. He sees he's no combat warrior. So they're doing the bidding of politicians as they've always done. That's how they got promoted. And they think Austin had the audacity to try to lecture the Israelis about counterinsurgency, clear hold, build. How'd that work for us? How'd that work out in Iraq and Afghanistan?
I'm proud of what my generation did. It's not on us, but we're going to lecture the Israelis about how to conduct urban warfare. By the way, their operation, at least at the beginning, will be studied for how much they bent over backwards to avoid civilian casualties. The normal ratio is nine to one civilian deaths. There's a one to one based on Hamas's numbers. And you remember when we had the the numbers they gave you three weeks ago that I was able to get and I'm sure you had them.
You shared them with me. Yeah. And I said, just take a look at this. The casualties are high, but most of them are Hamas fighters and they're not civilians.
And plus, how do you know the difference? How the hell do you know? And they want them to be the same on the other side. And all I see is those people cheering as those hostages were brought into Gaza and all those people cheering your mark for death. You were cheering the enemy. You should kill them all. Yeah. And that's how I feel.
And by the way, they know that we're playing we're pretending as if we don't know that. From the Fox News podcast network, subscribe and listen to the Trey Gowdy podcast. Former federal prosecutor and four term U.S. congressman from South Carolina brings you a one of a kind podcast. Subscribe and listen now by going to Fox News podcast dot com. Listen to the show ad free on Fox News podcast plus on Apple podcast, Amazon music with your prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
