January 17, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode, Senator Markwayne Mullin discusses the Pete Hegseth confirmation hearings in Washington, the bureaucracy within the military, and the hypocrisy in political standards. He emphasizes the need for change in the political landscape, particularly in the Democratic Party, which he argues is experiencing an identity crisis. The Tudor Dixon Podcast is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network. For more visit TudorDixonPodcast.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It has been a hectic week in Washington as we've
been watching all of these hearings, and the first hearing
that we were watching, we had Pete Hegseth who was
out there. He was a champ going through all of
these this harassment. And then he had a bit of
a champion of his own in Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
(00:23):
from the great state of Oklahoma, and we have him
here with us today. Senator, thank you for joining me,
Thanks for having me on. So I think that you
said things that we were all thinking, and I just
want to and even things that people haven't actually said
out loud. So I want to play one of the
clips from the hearing that you talked about qualifications, and
(00:46):
I think it is so key because we go through
these elections every two years or every six years.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And how much do you really know about somebody?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
But then these guys just get grilled in the public
for three.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Hours and sometimes a second time.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So first I want to play this clip, and then
I want to get to your reaction to what people
said to you afterwards.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I'm just making a point because there's a lot about
qualifications and I think it's so hypocritical of senators, especially
on the other side. I'll be talking about his qualifications
not going to lead the secretary or be the Secretary
of Defense, and yet your qualifications aren't any better. You
guys aren't any more qualified to be the Senator than
I'm qualified to be the centaer. E said, we're lucky
(01:29):
enough to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I mean, such a good point that you said, But
we're lucky enough to be here because it is an
honor to serve in that role. And Senator, I'm so
appreciative that you are here today with us to talk
about this, but nobody really says that.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Yeah. Well, it was frustrating to me, and I didn't
go in there planning this, by the way. I went
in there with a set of questions that was really
to give Pete an opportunity to reset, because we knew
he was going to be attacked. We knew that they
were going to go after his past. I didn't know
they were going to try to set themselves up on
this moral high ground, which is absolutely ridiculous, which I'm
(02:04):
not saying I'm more moral than anybody else. I'm part
of the least of them. I believe me. I've made
my share of mistakes and I'm just by grace of
God that I'm able to be here. But but the
fact that they were setting themselves up changed my direction
because when originally we were just gonna, you know, have
some softball questions for him, all allow Pete to really
(02:26):
just breathe, get his heart rate back down, and be
ready for the next attack. But when they were going
after qualifications, I'm going, what are the qualifications to be
a senator? You got to live within your state, You've
got to be a certain age, and you got to
be a citizen of the United States. To be the
qualification of the sect Deaf Secretary of Defense, all you
(02:48):
have to have is to be a citizen of the
United States. There's not even an age requirement for you
to do that and for and they know that, and
so where were they headed with that? It just frustrated
to me that they were all about saying that you're
not qualified to do it the President of the United
States to who the people of America overwhelmingly chose November
(03:10):
fifth with a popular vote, and the Electoral College said
he is qualified. That's really all that matters.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well, I think Pete was making the point that why
do you need all of these people with massive all
these generals. We didn't have this many generals in World
War Two in seven generals. You know he was making
he was trying to make that point. But also to
your point, it's very arrogant to come out and say
this when you have Secretary Austin who just botched the
Afghanistan withdrawal, so all of the qualifications that he had didn't.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Get us anywhere. We ended up with thirteen service members dead.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
And you know, Pete did make a good point because
he said, we have forty four four star generals right now.
At the end of World War Two we had seven
for star generals. We have so much bureaucracy inside the
DoD we can't even fight wars now. And if you
start thinking about he doesn't fit the mold of the
(04:08):
traditional sect deafs out there. We have been trying to
fit that mold for a long time and it hasn't
been effective. Instead of the Defense Department being more efficient
and focusing more on the war fighters, we've created more
bureaucracy and we can't even pass an audit. There's such
a sinking black hole there that they don't even know
(04:29):
where things went, and they deny that they even less
stuff over an Afghanistan and they knew that disasters withdraw
was going to end in that manner. We'd literally hand
over the Afghanistan to the Taliban. And we're saying that
Secretary of Austin somehow is qualified because he was a
general that Mold has it worked. And the definition of
insanity is what doing the same thing expecting different results.
(04:53):
We need something different, and Pete fits that Mold and
the American people, by the way, said they wanted something different.
That's why they put President Trump.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
In office exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I mean, that's what they've been The American people have
been saying this for a long time. That's why there
was such a gathering around the Tulsa Gabbards of the world,
the rfks of the world, when Donald Trump said we're
going to all come together. They said, this is what
we want to see, something unusual, something that is not
the standard party line, all coming together and saying this
(05:22):
is what we're going to do. I think it's going
to be interesting as we go into twenty six also
to see what happens on a state level, because of
what we've seen at the federal level. But want to
go back to the stuff about Secretary Austin and where
the military complex really stands today, the Pentagon, all of
this whole situation where it really seems financially completely out
(05:44):
of control. Interestingly, Secretary Austin served on the board of Raytheon.
It's a very strange situation because you have somebody who
clearly doesn't understand fiscal responsibility. Serving on a board is
not like being the CEO of a corporation. But they
were starting to question some of Pete's experience and his
(06:07):
being on a board before this, and so this is
what you had to say.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I want to play this clip too, because this is
what you had to say about that.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Questions that that the senator from from Massachusetts brought up
about serving on a board inside the military industry, and
yet your own secretaries, you all voted for Secretary of Austin.
We had to vote on a waiver because he stepped
out the board of Raytheon. But I guess that's okay
(06:37):
because that's a Democrat Secretary of Defense.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I mean, this is not like serving on the board
of an organization that takes care of veterans or something.
This is serving on the board of an organization that
benefits if we go to war.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
That's right. Once again called out the hypocrisy of the
Democrats who at this was just the eye opening thing
that I had ever seen. I mean, how all of
a sudden changed that they they are that it's okay
for them to do it, but they don't trust us
to do that. And yet it's not even the same thing,
because I mean, Pete was very clear he's never served
(07:17):
on a board when it comes to the those that
are building the war machines for tomorrow's fights. He has
never been employed by any of those industries either. And
yet they're saying that he can't do that, even ten
years after he leaves. But Secretary Austin is capable of
doing that, and you start talking about Secretary of Austin
(07:40):
and underneath his leadership. Once again, Sacretary Austin evidently was qualified,
but they're saying that Pete wasn't isn't qualified. Secretary Austin
earth his leadership, we've had huge morale issues. Obviously, we've
had a failure in Afghanistan. We're not meeting meeting any
recruiting numbers at all at all, and the only reason
(08:01):
why they say that we are meeting them is because
they blower the standard, not the standard to be into
the army. They blower the number of recruits that they
are accepting now because they couldn't meet them. We were
coming up short by thousands every single every single year
that Secretary of Austin was over, the Secretary of being
over as Secretary of Defense, and so it's ridiculous that
(08:25):
they wouldn't want to go a different direction. And it's
frustrating to all of us, including the American people that
sit here and see it. And people want change. I mean,
and you saw the president come in, President Trump, that
brought a coalition together that the Republican Party hasn't seen.
We'll just start with the Native American vote. Do you
(08:47):
realize that President Trump won sixty four percent of the
nat of American vote. He's the first Republican to do
that since Nixon. When you start talking about the labor vote,
he won the labor vote overall by fifty nine percent,
and are at sixty I think it's sixty two percent
in the Teamsters and may being heavier than that, but
(09:08):
I'm going to say sixty two because I don't want
to overshoot it of the union inside the Teamsters, and
so you start looking at what he's able to bring back,
the coalition he's able to bring back knowing that he's
working for the American people. You've seen bringing in people
like Bobby Kennedy, who has not been a Republican, but
he saw that the Democrat Party has left the American people,
(09:30):
so he's really willing to make the change. You see
Taulsea Gabbert, who is an extremely good friend of my
wife and I I call her my sister. Actually she
calls me her brother. You see what she is. She
was the first one to expose the hypocrisy of the
Democrat Party and left and became an independent, and now
she's a Republican. President Trump was able to bring that
whole coalition together, having Sean O'Brien speaking on his behalf,
(09:54):
the first on the president of the Teamsters ever has
ever done that right, and then Bobby Kennedy and Tulsia
gathered out there on the campaign trail. Every single day
now you're seeing CEOs and athletes and actors around the
country that are coming out and supporting him. Why Because
the American people saw the failures of the Biden administration.
They want change, and the Democrat Party has been toned
(10:17):
tone death to this. And you see it through not
just Pete's hearing. You saw it with Pam. You're going
to see it, even saw it with Rubio a little
bit unfortunately, and there's a lot of Democrats that are
supporting review and unfortunately you're going to see it with
when Taulsi comes up, and when Bobby comes up, when
Cash Hotel comes up, they're all going to do this
same march because they don't realize that they're no longer
(10:40):
truly representing the majority of the American people.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon podcast. You make such a great point
when you talk about the hypocrisy. That's what we've been
really highlighting for the past four years of President by
and being in office, the hypocrisy and just what we
saw with the military complex and how all the DEI
(11:06):
and the craziness and the like. You talked about the
inability to actually recruit. But I just want to go
back to the Secretary Austin thing for a moment, because
I think people need to fully understand something You mentioned that.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I just thought, yeah, we really have to kind of
explore that.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It wasn't that he was taken from the military and said, Okay,
this is where you should go.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You should be at the top. He was plucked from
the war machine. He was already there.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
They're talking about, Oh, Pete, you have to admit or
you have to commit to not doing this for ten
years after year in office. But what about the guy
who was already loyal to the war machine because he
was getting paid by them. He gets plucked out of
the war machine. And this is something that I think
we see in politics way too much. I mean, even
with pharmaceutical companies and all of the power of all
(11:52):
of big food, big pharma, that they put money into
candidates who get elected and you make a great Hey,
a lot of you aren't qualified to be here, but
maybe they had really great ads because they had so
much money behind them. And where did the money come from?
I mean, there is a lot of hypocricy that comes
with what's happening in Washington, DC.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, and going back to Secretary Austin, you're absolutely correct
by that. But going back to Secretary of Austin, don't
tell me you're not compromised. You were being paid a
lot of money to be on a board. That means
you don't have a work schedule, you don't even have
an office. You are there just to give advice on
how to penetrate to Pentagon and the Defense Department, to
(12:36):
get your product sold and get inside of the front
and get in front of the right person. That's the
only reason why Secretary Austin was being paid to be
on the board. And they may have met once a month,
they may have met once a quarter. I don't know
what Raytheon's requirements are to be on the board, but
I know because and I don't know if I'm actually
able to say how much he's being paid, but we
(12:57):
know how much he's being paid, which was a lot
of money. And to say that all of a sudden,
now you're going to leave there and you're going to
go and be the Segretary Defense and think that you're
not going to give them priority when they reach out
and say, hey, can we talk to you about a problem?
Can can can you can you shoot show us a
little bit of direction here of who we need to
(13:19):
visit with. I would love to go back when he
leaves office and find how many times people from Raytheon
reached out to his office directly and how many meetings
he took with him or helped set up meetings. I
bet we'll be surprised. Of course, the Democrats probably don't
want to expose that because that doesn't fit their narrative.
But you, but you're willing to turn a blind eye
to him, and you're trying to play hypothetical questions with Pete.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And when I'm hearing things like this tiny little nut
that I can buy at home depot for thirty nine cents,
the Pentagon's paying three point fifty for each one, I
have to question what who is who is getting the
kick back there? What is the relationship when you are
coming from a company that builds, builds parts, and builds
(14:06):
pieces and builds equipment to go to war, and we
have not audited the Pentagon, We don't have a good
audit where they can't pass an audit. We have a
massive amount of spend. Nobody wants to dig into that spend.
You make a great point.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
It's not okay that.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
We've spent money we should not have spent. This is
our money, it's the American people's money. That was misused,
and it should be looked at because if you don't
look at it, you don't expose it, it will happen again.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, there are stories about brooms, regular brooms that you
can go buy at Walmart, that the Pentagon is paying
four hundred dollars apiece for it, right, And this isn't unusual.
I mean I was talking to I was talking to
a group of people yesterday that we talked about outfitting
the warfighter, which is what Pete's biggest emphasis is. Right,
(14:55):
we don't win wars with generals. Do you win wars
with a guy and gals on the battlefield? That's where
the wars are won. And sometimes the generals hinder those
that are trying to do the job out past out
down range. Right. But I was talking to a I
(15:16):
kind of want to be careful on how I describe them,
So I'm just going to say I was talking to
some individuals and their job is to outfight, to outfit
warfighters around the world. That's what they do. And so
if you take the same equipment that we put on
our guys that are going down range versus what you
put on some of our allies, and you can use
(15:38):
any ally country you want, because a lot of us
our outfit is similar. The amount that we pay is
two hundred and seventy percent higher than our allies are
paying for the exact same equipment. Now tell me why,
because we're buying the majority of it, In fact, we're
probably helping buy some of it for our allied countries.
(16:02):
Why wouldn't we get the cheapest price? Why are we
paying two hundred and seventy percent hire to outfit the
same soldier just because it's got an American flag on
the shoulder.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well, and Senator Warren, who's out there saying, will you
commit to me that you're not going to go work someplace?
Will she make that same commitment? Because I've seen a
lot of people come out of government, they immediately start lobbying,
They immediately start going to work for companies that benefit
from their experience in government, and they make millions upon
(16:35):
millions of dollars doing it. I mean, this is the
ultimate hypocrisy. But I wanted to book before we go
any further. I wanted to get to one of the
last things you said on the floor, and what I
think is so important what you were in this hearing,
what you were talking about, because here you have the
Party of Bill Clinton out there saying you have a history,
(16:59):
and we think you drink, and we think you you've
had these divorces and we think that you're a bad
guy because of that, which I think most people who
know anything about Washington have seen in the last few
years that the behavior can get out of control. And
I think, you know, you've got a lot of people
that are away from home. And I had somebody who said, I,
(17:20):
you know, run for congress, Run for Congress. And I said,
it's just not I don't want to leave Michigan. I
want to be with my kids. And he said, you
should really think about it. It's just like high school.
And I said, don't ever say that. That's like a
really point has a really bad selling poy. He's like, well,
I meant from the standpoint of you can find the
people that go out all night. But if that's not you,
(17:42):
you can find the Bible study. And I'm like, but
we know there's a culture in Washington, and yet.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
They're acting like they are holier than that.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So I want to play this clip of what you
said about the drinking and divorces and you, I mean,
I think you really put them in a position where
they didn't know what to say.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
So here it is the Senator for Virginia starts bringing
up the fact that what if you showed up drunk
to your job? How many senators have showed up drunk
to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked
them to step down and resign for their job? And
don't tell me you haven't seen it, because I know
you have. And then how many senators do you know
(18:21):
have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did
you ask them to step down?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But it's for show, you guys. Make sure you make
a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a
man's made a mistake.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I mean, I watched that and I thought, my gosh,
this is the there. But there is a different standard
for Republicans, and I think that is because we have
been the moral side of the party or of the country.
We have been the side of the country that has
said we try, we try to be there. Certainly, as
(18:57):
you've said multiple times, we're huge. There are things that
people fall down. They make mistakes that should not define
your life, that should not define your career. And we
have given the other side grace. Certainly, we're not calling
them out and saying, boy, you've made this mistake. It's
got to permanently stay with you. You should wear a
letter on the front of your sweater saying that you've
(19:18):
done something terrible.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But that's what they want to do.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
They want to humiliate someone instead of really get to
whether or not he can do the job, they just
want to humiliate him.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, this here wasn't about substance or about vision for
the department offense. It was as you said, it was about.
It was a character assassination. The tip that they were
trying to have on feet, which, by the way, if
you want to show someone's true color, put them undernath
fire like that and see how they handle it. Pete
handled it remarkably well. I mean, he didn't get rattled.
He stayed calm, he stayed collective. He continued to answer
(19:52):
the questions. He didn't admit, he didn't deny that he
had made a mistake. He constantly went back and said,
there baseless allegations to what you're bringing up. But I
have changed, I have made a difference. So one time
he said, I'm saved and changed because the two Jays
Jesus and Jenny, and with my whole point on exposing them,
(20:12):
because you know, if you notice, their behavior quickly changed
right after that, because they understood they lived in a
glass house, but we don't. You should never hold yourself
up higher, a higher standard than what you're willing to live.
And I used to tell people all the time when
I when I was running our companies daily, if I
wanted my guys to show up at seven thirty, then
I needed to show up at seven. If I wanted
(20:34):
my guys to show up and be clean shaven and
the clean shirts and clean pants, and I need to
show up with my clothes starched and freshly combed hair
at seven every single morning. If I want my guys
to answer their phone after hours, and I need to
be available twenty four to seven, three hundred and sixty
five days a year and always be responsive to them,
(20:55):
I can't. I can't set a standard higher than I'm
willing to live my And here they are, they're trying
to set a standard that they don't even abide by
in our own body. Now, why wouldn't the Senate hold
themselves up to a higher standard themselves? And we don't,
But what was frustrating to me about this is here Genny.
I don't I don't use the word Genny because I
(21:16):
always call her Jennifer because when I say Genny, I
always think it orscup and I just can't get it
out of my head. So you had Jennifer sitting behind
behind Pete, and I'm sitting there. If my wife was
in that same position, and someone is is is going
after and attacking my my husband, who I know is flawed,
but I know that has changed. He's not the man
(21:39):
that they're accusing him to be, because we're all capable
of changing. And I tell people I've never fired anybody
from making a mistake. I fire you when you can't
admit you make a mistake. Pete, it may it took
him a little bit to start making admitting he was
making mistakes, but once he did, he fully changed. And
once you realize that you are a different man, and
that's the main you want on your side, because that
(22:00):
that's called wisdom and growth. That's that's someone that you want.
But if my wife is sitting there the same thought
that Jennifer was in, she would want somebody to defend
her husband that she can't defend publicly right now. And
so as I was watching her and in her demeanor,
which was very stowic, she was, she didn't show any emotion.
(22:21):
I thought, I felt like, she's she's got to be
the strongest woman in this room right now. I felt
like I needed to. I needed to just defend Pete
for her sake and pull out the hypocrisy of it.
And I my wife, who doesn't come in a lot
after she actually watched the video because at first she
(22:42):
thought I did something really bad because her phone was
bleeding or was blowing up the work watched is. She
called me back and she said thank you because I'd
want the same thing to be done for me. And
I said, I said, Christy, that is what drove me
to say it, because I've got to know Pete and
I've got to know Jennifer over the last few weeks,
and uh, she has the same characteristics as my wife,
(23:06):
that is, that's willing to look past my faults and
still love me because of it. And I don't why
I deserve that. I don't, but I but I accept it.
But that was that was what got me probably upset
the most, is just they were doing this in front
of his wife.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Senator, don't you think that a
lot of this has to do with they're so angry
at Donald Trump and Donald Trump bringing in people that
aren't a part of their team. And by their team,
(23:42):
I even mean, I just mean the Washington DC team.
It's like, yes, they have he went and he abided
by those rules more so in his first term, where
he brought in people that were you know, they were
more of the Washington type. And this time he just said,
I'm going to bring in whoever I feel comfortable with.
(24:02):
And I think that's when I ran for office, people
said find the ten people you trust the most.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
By the end of the campaign, you'll trust five of them.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And that's I mean, you're lucky if you get five,
you know, because it is a cutthroat. I actually was
watching Designated Survivor with my eleven year old the other
day and you get in and you see it's exactly
like everybody's kind of scheming behind his back, right, And
she goes, is this what your job is? Like?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Why would you want to live like this?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
And I thought that's so funny because that is what
Washington is like, and they don't like the fact that
Donald Trump is doing something different to change that. So
the Tallsia Gabbards and the Pan Bondies and the Pete
Hagsas of the world are now going to get the
rath that they want to put on Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
But they just have to make it.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
They have to keep this narrative going that anybody who
is not us is bad.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah, and I'd listen. I've met some really, really, really
outstanding individuals. I think that's been my biggest surprise is
there's outstanding individuals inside politics, But unfortunately the ones that
get all the news are willing to, as I say,
hurt you a lot to gain a little. They're willing
to absolutely destroy you to have thirty seconds of fame
(25:18):
and it can destroy everything in your life along the way,
just as long as they're willing to get that moment
on TV. And right now what you're seeing with the
Democrat Party, I don't even believe that they believe what
they're saying. They're just it's all for show. It's all
just trying to get that sound bite, it's all just
trying to get on news. It's all just trying to
(25:39):
get CNN or MSNBC to play their clip over and
over again to show that c I'm fighting for you
because what's happened in the Democrat Party right now is
they realize there's no leadership left, there's no bench left.
I mean when they're two top candidates was Joe Biden,
who they had been covering for for years because his
(26:00):
cognitive behavior, and yet they still thought he was the
best one to run against uh President Trump. But then
they realize he can't even debate, and so their second
was Kamala Harris, who came in what wentieth in the primary,
the only primary that she ran in. So, I mean,
it's just it absolutely absurd that they even thought that
(26:24):
she'd be the person. However, since there is no backup,
there is no leadership. Now you're seeing all these senators
that are jocking for four years from now. They're trying
to fight because there's no bench left. They're trying to
become the next inherit crown Prince or Crown princess to
(26:47):
become the candidate for the Democrat Party. Remember, because the
Democrats actually don't have open primaries anymore for the president
of grades right, I haven't had that I guess Obama
kind of Obama clin that was an open primary in
two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, but after
that they haven't had an open primary. It's it was
cooked beforehand Hillary, it was cooked for Hillary, it was
(27:10):
cooked for Biden, and it was cooked this time for
Biden slash hairs.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Well. And it's interesting that you say that because I
think obviously the sad situation that we've seen out of
California that has really I mean, everybody's saying Knewsome Stune,
how could he ever come back from this? The governors
that rode on the bus during the campaign that were
so corny with these weird, unprofessional videos, And I think
(27:34):
that I think you make a great point. We're seeing
something different from that, and I think there was a
lot of clownery, and the Democrat Party thought that that
was the culture of the time, was to go out
there and the more the goofy or you wore, the
more young people believed in you and you could get
them on your side.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
That wiped out a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
For contending for twenty eight because they made such fools
of themselves. So I think what you're you're describing is
sort of having people that do have one foot in
a trap. They know that they're injured, and they're trying
to make their their mark, still feeling the pain of
the trap from twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Right, they're trying to separate themselves. Do you know what's
telling sign that what they're trying to do isn't hitting
the mark. When Caitlin on CNN UH had had Elizabeth
Warren on Tuesday night, I was on there before Elizabeth
and she she pointed out that I don't think you're
questioning hit the mark. I think I think it backfired.
(28:34):
It didn't. It didn't go over the way that you
guys were expecting it to go over American people. Even
if a Democrat, if Democrats are even saying that, if
even CNN is saying that that you're you're going down
the wrong track, that ought to tell you need to
rethink your strategy moving moving forward. And don't don't don't
think for a second that Elizabeth Warren is going to
(28:56):
go work in any type of private sector her. She's
either going to stay in office until she has to
be carried out or she wants to go to the
White House, God forbid. But she's a career politician.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Right. Well, I think what we're seeing as a Democrat
party that is trying to figure out what its identity
is they had gotten you.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Have an identity crisis.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, they're trying to figure out their gender right now.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
So much we could we have a whost show just
on that.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
But you know, I mean I say that with the.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Mindset of understanding that this has happened to Republicans too.
There is a time when your party can push party
messaging can push a lot of people into a place
that they think, well, I'm not comfortable, but this is
what the people want, until they finally get smacked in
the face and the people go, that's never what we wanted.
But you can be cajoled into believing that that's where
(29:51):
the country is. And I think that's what happened to them,
And I don't make fun of them for it, because
I think it can happen to the other side too.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I've seen it happen to the other side. But that
is why it's.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Important that people in Washington and time around the people
in their state.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
That's right, well, the identity it can happen to any
one of us. Anytime you think you're high and mighty,
You're you're you're just ready to be proven you're not.
I always tell people when things are going good in
your company, you start you better start looking for change
and looking for the hole in the tire because things
are going to go off rail pretty quick. But what
I was referring to by identity crisis is this is
the party that can't figure out how many genders there are?
(30:29):
Right sorry, that for four years couldn't answer the question
of if you're a male or female and couldn't and
and what how many different pronouns did they come up with?
And That's what I'm meaning by identity crisis. And the
American people got fed up with that, and that's why
they're having identity crisis because they started with the identity.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Is Another viral moment when Senator she said, how many
generals are I know because I'm a she he that
was hilarious.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Well, we are so grateful for what you guys do
out there every day.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
And I know that you are one of.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
The unique folks in Washington that also still manages life
and career and business at home. So you take real
life experience and it's not just career politician for you,
and we are grateful. I think we have to call
that out when we see it. We're grateful because you
are the person that is bringing that common sense to
Washington every day and it is much needed.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
I stay humbled by my wife and kids.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Kids will do that to you, right, bring me down
every single day.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Ye.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Come moment I realize I'm I'm just a dad.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yes, And your kids are never going to let you
get a big head. That's the beauty of it. Yes,
I'm putting on ball gowns to for inauguration and putting
them on and the girls like, oh, your stomach looks huge,
thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Today today right before the show, my daughter who's six team,
she said it to a big she wrestles ill fame
to wrestle. So my boys wrestled to at Oklahoma State
one at University of Oklahoma, and my girls that are
still in school in high school, they all wrestle. And
she said it to a big, a big duel today
and Missouri and I called her and I said, baby,
how you feeling. How's your weight? She says, I'm good,
(32:18):
I'm good. She said, don't buy a weight. My biology
teacher came to me today and just wanted me to
tell you that you did that. You did really good.
She was proud of you. And I said, I said,
you didn't watch the video, did you. She says no.
She I said, so, you don't even know what she's
talking about. She says no, And I said, well, thank you, Larry.
I appreciate that. She says, Dad, you're old news to me.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
That's good. See, those are the kind of family members
you need. Yeah, no kidding, Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Well, we love that you are so close to your
family and those are the things that matter when you
go to Washington. So Senator Mullin, thank you so much
for being on today, Thanks for having me on, absolutely,
and thank you all for listening to the Tutor Dixon podcast.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
For this episode and others.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Go to iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Podcasts and join us next time. Have a blessed Ey
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It has been a hectic week in Washington as we've
been watching all of these hearings, and the first hearing
that we were watching, we had Pete Hegseth who was
out there. He was a champ going through all of
these this harassment. And then he had a bit of
a champion of his own in Senator Mark Wayne Mullen
(00:23):
from the great state of Oklahoma, and we have him
here with us today. Senator, thank you for joining me,
Thanks for having me on. So I think that you
said things that we were all thinking, and I just
want to and even things that people haven't actually said
out loud. So I want to play one of the
clips from the hearing that you talked about qualifications, and
(00:46):
I think it is so key because we go through
these elections every two years or every six years.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And how much do you really know about somebody?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
But then these guys just get grilled in the public
for three.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Hours and sometimes a second time.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So first I want to play this clip, and then
I want to get to your reaction to what people
said to you afterwards.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I'm just making a point because there's a lot about
qualifications and I think it's so hypocritical of senators, especially
on the other side. I'll be talking about his qualifications
not going to lead the secretary or be the Secretary
of Defense, and yet your qualifications aren't any better. You
guys aren't any more qualified to be the Senator than
I'm qualified to be the centaer. E said, we're lucky
(01:29):
enough to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I mean, such a good point that you said, But
we're lucky enough to be here because it is an
honor to serve in that role. And Senator, I'm so
appreciative that you are here today with us to talk
about this, but nobody really says that.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Yeah. Well, it was frustrating to me, and I didn't
go in there planning this, by the way. I went
in there with a set of questions that was really
to give Pete an opportunity to reset, because we knew
he was going to be attacked. We knew that they
were going to go after his past. I didn't know
they were going to try to set themselves up on
this moral high ground, which is absolutely ridiculous, which I'm
(02:04):
not saying I'm more moral than anybody else. I'm part
of the least of them. I believe me. I've made
my share of mistakes and I'm just by grace of
God that I'm able to be here. But but the
fact that they were setting themselves up changed my direction
because when originally we were just gonna, you know, have
some softball questions for him, all allow Pete to really
(02:26):
just breathe, get his heart rate back down, and be
ready for the next attack. But when they were going
after qualifications, I'm going, what are the qualifications to be
a senator? You got to live within your state, You've
got to be a certain age, and you got to
be a citizen of the United States. To be the
qualification of the sect Deaf Secretary of Defense, all you
(02:48):
have to have is to be a citizen of the
United States. There's not even an age requirement for you
to do that and for and they know that, and
so where were they headed with that? It just frustrated
to me that they were all about saying that you're
not qualified to do it the President of the United
States to who the people of America overwhelmingly chose November
(03:10):
fifth with a popular vote, and the Electoral College said
he is qualified. That's really all that matters.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well, I think Pete was making the point that why
do you need all of these people with massive all
these generals. We didn't have this many generals in World
War Two in seven generals. You know he was making
he was trying to make that point. But also to
your point, it's very arrogant to come out and say
this when you have Secretary Austin who just botched the
Afghanistan withdrawal, so all of the qualifications that he had didn't.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Get us anywhere. We ended up with thirteen service members dead.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
And you know, Pete did make a good point because
he said, we have forty four four star generals right now.
At the end of World War Two we had seven
for star generals. We have so much bureaucracy inside the
DoD we can't even fight wars now. And if you
start thinking about he doesn't fit the mold of the
(04:08):
traditional sect deafs out there. We have been trying to
fit that mold for a long time and it hasn't
been effective. Instead of the Defense Department being more efficient
and focusing more on the war fighters, we've created more
bureaucracy and we can't even pass an audit. There's such
a sinking black hole there that they don't even know
(04:29):
where things went, and they deny that they even less
stuff over an Afghanistan and they knew that disasters withdraw
was going to end in that manner. We'd literally hand
over the Afghanistan to the Taliban. And we're saying that
Secretary of Austin somehow is qualified because he was a
general that Mold has it worked. And the definition of
insanity is what doing the same thing expecting different results.
(04:53):
We need something different, and Pete fits that Mold and
the American people, by the way, said they wanted something different.
That's why they put President Trump.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
In office exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I mean, that's what they've been The American people have
been saying this for a long time. That's why there
was such a gathering around the Tulsa Gabbards of the world,
the rfks of the world, when Donald Trump said we're
going to all come together. They said, this is what
we want to see, something unusual, something that is not
the standard party line, all coming together and saying this
(05:22):
is what we're going to do. I think it's going
to be interesting as we go into twenty six also
to see what happens on a state level, because of
what we've seen at the federal level. But want to
go back to the stuff about Secretary Austin and where
the military complex really stands today, the Pentagon, all of
this whole situation where it really seems financially completely out
(05:44):
of control. Interestingly, Secretary Austin served on the board of Raytheon.
It's a very strange situation because you have somebody who
clearly doesn't understand fiscal responsibility. Serving on a board is
not like being the CEO of a corporation. But they
were starting to question some of Pete's experience and his
(06:07):
being on a board before this, and so this is
what you had to say.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I want to play this clip too, because this is
what you had to say about that.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Questions that that the senator from from Massachusetts brought up
about serving on a board inside the military industry, and
yet your own secretaries, you all voted for Secretary of Austin.
We had to vote on a waiver because he stepped
out the board of Raytheon. But I guess that's okay
(06:37):
because that's a Democrat Secretary of Defense.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I mean, this is not like serving on the board
of an organization that takes care of veterans or something.
This is serving on the board of an organization that
benefits if we go to war.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
That's right. Once again called out the hypocrisy of the
Democrats who at this was just the eye opening thing
that I had ever seen. I mean, how all of
a sudden changed that they they are that it's okay
for them to do it, but they don't trust us
to do that. And yet it's not even the same thing,
because I mean, Pete was very clear he's never served
(07:17):
on a board when it comes to the those that
are building the war machines for tomorrow's fights. He has
never been employed by any of those industries either. And
yet they're saying that he can't do that, even ten
years after he leaves. But Secretary Austin is capable of
doing that, and you start talking about Secretary of Austin
(07:40):
and underneath his leadership. Once again, Sacretary Austin evidently was qualified,
but they're saying that Pete wasn't isn't qualified. Secretary Austin
earth his leadership, we've had huge morale issues. Obviously, we've
had a failure in Afghanistan. We're not meeting meeting any
recruiting numbers at all at all, and the only reason
(08:01):
why they say that we are meeting them is because
they blower the standard, not the standard to be into
the army. They blower the number of recruits that they
are accepting now because they couldn't meet them. We were
coming up short by thousands every single every single year
that Secretary of Austin was over, the Secretary of being
over as Secretary of Defense, and so it's ridiculous that
(08:25):
they wouldn't want to go a different direction. And it's
frustrating to all of us, including the American people that
sit here and see it. And people want change. I mean,
and you saw the president come in, President Trump, that
brought a coalition together that the Republican Party hasn't seen.
We'll just start with the Native American vote. Do you
(08:47):
realize that President Trump won sixty four percent of the
nat of American vote. He's the first Republican to do
that since Nixon. When you start talking about the labor vote,
he won the labor vote overall by fifty nine percent,
and are at sixty I think it's sixty two percent
in the Teamsters and may being heavier than that, but
(09:08):
I'm going to say sixty two because I don't want
to overshoot it of the union inside the Teamsters, and
so you start looking at what he's able to bring back,
the coalition he's able to bring back knowing that he's
working for the American people. You've seen bringing in people
like Bobby Kennedy, who has not been a Republican, but
he saw that the Democrat Party has left the American people,
(09:30):
so he's really willing to make the change. You see
Taulsea Gabbert, who is an extremely good friend of my
wife and I I call her my sister. Actually she
calls me her brother. You see what she is. She
was the first one to expose the hypocrisy of the
Democrat Party and left and became an independent, and now
she's a Republican. President Trump was able to bring that
whole coalition together, having Sean O'Brien speaking on his behalf,
(09:54):
the first on the president of the Teamsters ever has
ever done that right, and then Bobby Kennedy and Tulsia
gathered out there on the campaign trail. Every single day
now you're seeing CEOs and athletes and actors around the
country that are coming out and supporting him. Why Because
the American people saw the failures of the Biden administration.
They want change, and the Democrat Party has been toned
(10:17):
tone death to this. And you see it through not
just Pete's hearing. You saw it with Pam. You're going
to see it, even saw it with Rubio a little
bit unfortunately, and there's a lot of Democrats that are
supporting review and unfortunately you're going to see it with
when Taulsi comes up, and when Bobby comes up, when
Cash Hotel comes up, they're all going to do this
same march because they don't realize that they're no longer
(10:40):
truly representing the majority of the American people.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon podcast. You make such a great point
when you talk about the hypocrisy. That's what we've been
really highlighting for the past four years of President by
and being in office, the hypocrisy and just what we
saw with the military complex and how all the DEI
(11:06):
and the craziness and the like. You talked about the
inability to actually recruit. But I just want to go
back to the Secretary Austin thing for a moment, because
I think people need to fully understand something You mentioned that.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I just thought, yeah, we really have to kind of
explore that.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It wasn't that he was taken from the military and said, Okay,
this is where you should go.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You should be at the top. He was plucked from
the war machine. He was already there.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
They're talking about, Oh, Pete, you have to admit or
you have to commit to not doing this for ten
years after year in office. But what about the guy
who was already loyal to the war machine because he
was getting paid by them. He gets plucked out of
the war machine. And this is something that I think
we see in politics way too much. I mean, even
with pharmaceutical companies and all of the power of all
(11:52):
of big food, big pharma, that they put money into
candidates who get elected and you make a great Hey,
a lot of you aren't qualified to be here, but
maybe they had really great ads because they had so
much money behind them. And where did the money come from?
I mean, there is a lot of hypocricy that comes
with what's happening in Washington, DC.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, and going back to Secretary Austin, you're absolutely correct
by that. But going back to Secretary of Austin, don't
tell me you're not compromised. You were being paid a
lot of money to be on a board. That means
you don't have a work schedule, you don't even have
an office. You are there just to give advice on
how to penetrate to Pentagon and the Defense Department, to
(12:36):
get your product sold and get inside of the front
and get in front of the right person. That's the
only reason why Secretary Austin was being paid to be
on the board. And they may have met once a month,
they may have met once a quarter. I don't know
what Raytheon's requirements are to be on the board, but
I know because and I don't know if I'm actually
able to say how much he's being paid, but we
(12:57):
know how much he's being paid, which was a lot
of money. And to say that all of a sudden,
now you're going to leave there and you're going to
go and be the Segretary Defense and think that you're
not going to give them priority when they reach out
and say, hey, can we talk to you about a problem?
Can can can you can you shoot show us a
little bit of direction here of who we need to
(13:19):
visit with. I would love to go back when he
leaves office and find how many times people from Raytheon
reached out to his office directly and how many meetings
he took with him or helped set up meetings. I
bet we'll be surprised. Of course, the Democrats probably don't
want to expose that because that doesn't fit their narrative.
But you, but you're willing to turn a blind eye
to him, and you're trying to play hypothetical questions with Pete.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And when I'm hearing things like this tiny little nut
that I can buy at home depot for thirty nine cents,
the Pentagon's paying three point fifty for each one, I
have to question what who is who is getting the
kick back there? What is the relationship when you are
coming from a company that builds, builds parts, and builds
(14:06):
pieces and builds equipment to go to war, and we
have not audited the Pentagon, We don't have a good
audit where they can't pass an audit. We have a
massive amount of spend. Nobody wants to dig into that spend.
You make a great point.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
It's not okay that.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
We've spent money we should not have spent. This is
our money, it's the American people's money. That was misused,
and it should be looked at because if you don't
look at it, you don't expose it, it will happen again.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, there are stories about brooms, regular brooms that you
can go buy at Walmart, that the Pentagon is paying
four hundred dollars apiece for it, right, And this isn't unusual.
I mean I was talking to I was talking to
a group of people yesterday that we talked about outfitting
the warfighter, which is what Pete's biggest emphasis is. Right,
(14:55):
we don't win wars with generals. Do you win wars
with a guy and gals on the battlefield? That's where
the wars are won. And sometimes the generals hinder those
that are trying to do the job out past out
down range. Right. But I was talking to a I
(15:16):
kind of want to be careful on how I describe them,
So I'm just going to say I was talking to
some individuals and their job is to outfight, to outfit
warfighters around the world. That's what they do. And so
if you take the same equipment that we put on
our guys that are going down range versus what you
put on some of our allies, and you can use
(15:38):
any ally country you want, because a lot of us
our outfit is similar. The amount that we pay is
two hundred and seventy percent higher than our allies are
paying for the exact same equipment. Now tell me why,
because we're buying the majority of it, In fact, we're
probably helping buy some of it for our allied countries.
(16:02):
Why wouldn't we get the cheapest price? Why are we
paying two hundred and seventy percent hire to outfit the
same soldier just because it's got an American flag on
the shoulder.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well, and Senator Warren, who's out there saying, will you
commit to me that you're not going to go work someplace?
Will she make that same commitment? Because I've seen a
lot of people come out of government, they immediately start lobbying,
They immediately start going to work for companies that benefit
from their experience in government, and they make millions upon
(16:35):
millions of dollars doing it. I mean, this is the
ultimate hypocrisy. But I wanted to book before we go
any further. I wanted to get to one of the
last things you said on the floor, and what I
think is so important what you were in this hearing,
what you were talking about, because here you have the
Party of Bill Clinton out there saying you have a history,
(16:59):
and we think you drink, and we think you you've
had these divorces and we think that you're a bad
guy because of that, which I think most people who
know anything about Washington have seen in the last few
years that the behavior can get out of control. And
I think, you know, you've got a lot of people
that are away from home. And I had somebody who said, I,
(17:20):
you know, run for congress, Run for Congress. And I said,
it's just not I don't want to leave Michigan. I
want to be with my kids. And he said, you
should really think about it. It's just like high school.
And I said, don't ever say that. That's like a
really point has a really bad selling poy. He's like, well,
I meant from the standpoint of you can find the
people that go out all night. But if that's not you,
(17:42):
you can find the Bible study. And I'm like, but
we know there's a culture in Washington, and yet.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
They're acting like they are holier than that.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So I want to play this clip of what you
said about the drinking and divorces and you, I mean,
I think you really put them in a position where
they didn't know what to say.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
So here it is the Senator for Virginia starts bringing
up the fact that what if you showed up drunk
to your job? How many senators have showed up drunk
to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked
them to step down and resign for their job? And
don't tell me you haven't seen it, because I know
you have. And then how many senators do you know
(18:21):
have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did
you ask them to step down?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But it's for show, you guys. Make sure you make
a big show and point out the hypocrisy because a
man's made a mistake.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I mean, I watched that and I thought, my gosh,
this is the there. But there is a different standard
for Republicans, and I think that is because we have
been the moral side of the party or of the country.
We have been the side of the country that has
said we try, we try to be there. Certainly, as
(18:57):
you've said multiple times, we're huge. There are things that
people fall down. They make mistakes that should not define
your life, that should not define your career. And we
have given the other side grace. Certainly, we're not calling
them out and saying, boy, you've made this mistake. It's
got to permanently stay with you. You should wear a
letter on the front of your sweater saying that you've
(19:18):
done something terrible.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But that's what they want to do.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
They want to humiliate someone instead of really get to
whether or not he can do the job, they just
want to humiliate him.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, this here wasn't about substance or about vision for
the department offense. It was as you said, it was about.
It was a character assassination. The tip that they were
trying to have on feet, which, by the way, if
you want to show someone's true color, put them undernath
fire like that and see how they handle it. Pete
handled it remarkably well. I mean, he didn't get rattled.
He stayed calm, he stayed collective. He continued to answer
(19:52):
the questions. He didn't admit, he didn't deny that he
had made a mistake. He constantly went back and said,
there baseless allegations to what you're bringing up. But I
have changed, I have made a difference. So one time
he said, I'm saved and changed because the two Jays
Jesus and Jenny, and with my whole point on exposing them,
(20:12):
because you know, if you notice, their behavior quickly changed
right after that, because they understood they lived in a
glass house, but we don't. You should never hold yourself
up higher, a higher standard than what you're willing to live.
And I used to tell people all the time when
I when I was running our companies daily, if I
wanted my guys to show up at seven thirty, then
I needed to show up at seven. If I wanted
(20:34):
my guys to show up and be clean shaven and
the clean shirts and clean pants, and I need to
show up with my clothes starched and freshly combed hair
at seven every single morning. If I want my guys
to answer their phone after hours, and I need to
be available twenty four to seven, three hundred and sixty
five days a year and always be responsive to them,
(20:55):
I can't. I can't set a standard higher than I'm
willing to live my And here they are, they're trying
to set a standard that they don't even abide by
in our own body. Now, why wouldn't the Senate hold
themselves up to a higher standard themselves? And we don't,
But what was frustrating to me about this is here Genny.
I don't I don't use the word Genny because I
(21:16):
always call her Jennifer because when I say Genny, I
always think it orscup and I just can't get it
out of my head. So you had Jennifer sitting behind
behind Pete, and I'm sitting there. If my wife was
in that same position, and someone is is is going
after and attacking my my husband, who I know is flawed,
but I know that has changed. He's not the man
(21:39):
that they're accusing him to be, because we're all capable
of changing. And I tell people I've never fired anybody
from making a mistake. I fire you when you can't
admit you make a mistake. Pete, it may it took
him a little bit to start making admitting he was
making mistakes, but once he did, he fully changed. And
once you realize that you are a different man, and
that's the main you want on your side, because that
(22:00):
that's called wisdom and growth. That's that's someone that you want.
But if my wife is sitting there the same thought
that Jennifer was in, she would want somebody to defend
her husband that she can't defend publicly right now. And
so as I was watching her and in her demeanor,
which was very stowic, she was, she didn't show any emotion.
(22:21):
I thought, I felt like, she's she's got to be
the strongest woman in this room right now. I felt
like I needed to. I needed to just defend Pete
for her sake and pull out the hypocrisy of it.
And I my wife, who doesn't come in a lot
after she actually watched the video because at first she
(22:42):
thought I did something really bad because her phone was
bleeding or was blowing up the work watched is. She
called me back and she said thank you because I'd
want the same thing to be done for me. And
I said, I said, Christy, that is what drove me
to say it, because I've got to know Pete and
I've got to know Jennifer over the last few weeks,
and uh, she has the same characteristics as my wife,
(23:06):
that is, that's willing to look past my faults and
still love me because of it. And I don't why
I deserve that. I don't, but I but I accept it.
But that was that was what got me probably upset
the most, is just they were doing this in front
of his wife.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next on
the Tutor Dixon Podcast. Senator, don't you think that a
lot of this has to do with they're so angry
at Donald Trump and Donald Trump bringing in people that
aren't a part of their team. And by their team,
(23:42):
I even mean, I just mean the Washington DC team.
It's like, yes, they have he went and he abided
by those rules more so in his first term, where
he brought in people that were you know, they were
more of the Washington type. And this time he just said,
I'm going to bring in whoever I feel comfortable with.
(24:02):
And I think that's when I ran for office, people
said find the ten people you trust the most.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
By the end of the campaign, you'll trust five of them.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And that's I mean, you're lucky if you get five,
you know, because it is a cutthroat. I actually was
watching Designated Survivor with my eleven year old the other
day and you get in and you see it's exactly
like everybody's kind of scheming behind his back, right, And
she goes, is this what your job is? Like?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Why would you want to live like this?
Speaker 2 (24:30):
And I thought that's so funny because that is what
Washington is like, and they don't like the fact that
Donald Trump is doing something different to change that. So
the Tallsia Gabbards and the Pan Bondies and the Pete
Hagsas of the world are now going to get the
rath that they want to put on Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
But they just have to make it.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
They have to keep this narrative going that anybody who
is not us is bad.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah, and I'd listen. I've met some really, really, really
outstanding individuals. I think that's been my biggest surprise is
there's outstanding individuals inside politics, But unfortunately the ones that
get all the news are willing to, as I say,
hurt you a lot to gain a little. They're willing
to absolutely destroy you to have thirty seconds of fame
(25:18):
and it can destroy everything in your life along the way,
just as long as they're willing to get that moment
on TV. And right now what you're seeing with the
Democrat Party, I don't even believe that they believe what
they're saying. They're just it's all for show. It's all
just trying to get that sound bite, it's all just
trying to get on news. It's all just trying to
(25:39):
get CNN or MSNBC to play their clip over and
over again to show that c I'm fighting for you
because what's happened in the Democrat Party right now is
they realize there's no leadership left, there's no bench left.
I mean when they're two top candidates was Joe Biden,
who they had been covering for for years because his
(26:00):
cognitive behavior, and yet they still thought he was the
best one to run against uh President Trump. But then
they realize he can't even debate, and so their second
was Kamala Harris, who came in what wentieth in the primary,
the only primary that she ran in. So, I mean,
it's just it absolutely absurd that they even thought that
(26:24):
she'd be the person. However, since there is no backup,
there is no leadership. Now you're seeing all these senators
that are jocking for four years from now. They're trying
to fight because there's no bench left. They're trying to
become the next inherit crown Prince or Crown princess to
(26:47):
become the candidate for the Democrat Party. Remember, because the
Democrats actually don't have open primaries anymore for the president
of grades right, I haven't had that I guess Obama
kind of Obama clin that was an open primary in
two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, but after
that they haven't had an open primary. It's it was
cooked beforehand Hillary, it was cooked for Hillary, it was
(27:10):
cooked for Biden, and it was cooked this time for
Biden slash hairs.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Well. And it's interesting that you say that because I
think obviously the sad situation that we've seen out of
California that has really I mean, everybody's saying Knewsome Stune,
how could he ever come back from this? The governors
that rode on the bus during the campaign that were
so corny with these weird, unprofessional videos, And I think
(27:34):
that I think you make a great point. We're seeing
something different from that, and I think there was a
lot of clownery, and the Democrat Party thought that that
was the culture of the time, was to go out
there and the more the goofy or you wore, the
more young people believed in you and you could get
them on your side.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
That wiped out a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
For contending for twenty eight because they made such fools
of themselves. So I think what you're you're describing is
sort of having people that do have one foot in
a trap. They know that they're injured, and they're trying
to make their their mark, still feeling the pain of
the trap from twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Right, they're trying to separate themselves. Do you know what's
telling sign that what they're trying to do isn't hitting
the mark. When Caitlin on CNN UH had had Elizabeth
Warren on Tuesday night, I was on there before Elizabeth
and she she pointed out that I don't think you're
questioning hit the mark. I think I think it backfired.
(28:34):
It didn't. It didn't go over the way that you
guys were expecting it to go over American people. Even
if a Democrat, if Democrats are even saying that, if
even CNN is saying that that you're you're going down
the wrong track, that ought to tell you need to
rethink your strategy moving moving forward. And don't don't don't
think for a second that Elizabeth Warren is going to
(28:56):
go work in any type of private sector her. She's
either going to stay in office until she has to
be carried out or she wants to go to the
White House, God forbid. But she's a career politician.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Right. Well, I think what we're seeing as a Democrat
party that is trying to figure out what its identity
is they had gotten you.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Have an identity crisis.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, they're trying to figure out their gender right now.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
So much we could we have a whost show just
on that.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
But you know, I mean I say that with the.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Mindset of understanding that this has happened to Republicans too.
There is a time when your party can push party
messaging can push a lot of people into a place
that they think, well, I'm not comfortable, but this is
what the people want, until they finally get smacked in
the face and the people go, that's never what we wanted.
But you can be cajoled into believing that that's where
(29:51):
the country is. And I think that's what happened to them,
And I don't make fun of them for it, because
I think it can happen to the other side too.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I've seen it happen to the other side. But that
is why it's.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Important that people in Washington and time around the people
in their state.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
That's right, well, the identity it can happen to any
one of us. Anytime you think you're high and mighty,
You're you're you're just ready to be proven you're not.
I always tell people when things are going good in
your company, you start you better start looking for change
and looking for the hole in the tire because things
are going to go off rail pretty quick. But what
I was referring to by identity crisis is this is
the party that can't figure out how many genders there are?
(30:29):
Right sorry, that for four years couldn't answer the question
of if you're a male or female and couldn't and
and what how many different pronouns did they come up with?
And That's what I'm meaning by identity crisis. And the
American people got fed up with that, and that's why
they're having identity crisis because they started with the identity.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Is Another viral moment when Senator she said, how many
generals are I know because I'm a she he that
was hilarious.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Well, we are so grateful for what you guys do
out there every day.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
And I know that you are one of.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
The unique folks in Washington that also still manages life
and career and business at home. So you take real
life experience and it's not just career politician for you,
and we are grateful. I think we have to call
that out when we see it. We're grateful because you
are the person that is bringing that common sense to
Washington every day and it is much needed.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
I stay humbled by my wife and kids.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Kids will do that to you, right, bring me down
every single day.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Ye.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Come moment I realize I'm I'm just a dad.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yes, And your kids are never going to let you
get a big head. That's the beauty of it. Yes,
I'm putting on ball gowns to for inauguration and putting
them on and the girls like, oh, your stomach looks huge,
thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Today today right before the show, my daughter who's six team,
she said it to a big she wrestles ill fame
to wrestle. So my boys wrestled to at Oklahoma State
one at University of Oklahoma, and my girls that are
still in school in high school, they all wrestle. And
she said it to a big, a big duel today
and Missouri and I called her and I said, baby,
how you feeling. How's your weight? She says, I'm good,
(32:18):
I'm good. She said, don't buy a weight. My biology
teacher came to me today and just wanted me to
tell you that you did that. You did really good.
She was proud of you. And I said, I said,
you didn't watch the video, did you. She says no.
She I said, so, you don't even know what she's
talking about. She says no, And I said, well, thank you, Larry.
I appreciate that. She says, Dad, you're old news to me.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
That's good. See, those are the kind of family members
you need. Yeah, no kidding, Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Well, we love that you are so close to your
family and those are the things that matter when you
go to Washington. So Senator Mullin, thank you so much
for being on today, Thanks for having me on, absolutely,
and thank you all for listening to the Tutor Dixon podcast.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
For this episode and others.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Go to iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Podcasts and join us next time. Have a blessed Ey
Host
Tudor Dixon
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