February 14, 2025 • 35 mins
Hour 2 of A&G features...
- Mike Lyon's talks to Jack Armstrong!
- Jack's horrific Valentine's Day story!
- Tim Clark talks to Jack Armstrong!
- Responses to Jack's Valentine's Day story
Stupid Should Hurt: https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty arm Strong
and Gattety and he Armstrong and Getty House things. So far,
(00:28):
it's running almost well. It's one hundred percent of people
I'm talking to who do or don't like Valentine's Day,
and everybody around here hates it. So I don't know,
maybe it's the kind of people to get into the
radio business.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
There's some news to talk about. I already had things
I wanted to talk to Mike Lyons about, but there
are things in the news today that we need to
bring up. Mike Lions military analysts we regularly have on
You can follow him at maj Is in Major Mike
Lions because he was serving with various military organizations in
both the United States and Europe throughout it his career.
We love getting his perspective on things. Hey, Mike, welcome
(01:04):
to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Hey guys, great to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I guess we got to start with JD. Vance saying
in the Wall Street Journal that all options are on
the table, including US troops in Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah. I think a lot of that has to do
with kind of clean up on al five for what
the Secretary of Defense has said. Pete hegg Seth, who
you know, watching him closely, trying to see if he's,
you know, getting off to a good start or not.
He's not really, frankly, had a very good week. He's
trying to implement the intent of this president. Note you
(01:38):
know very clearly. But I think he got out over
skis when he talked to those European leaders, to the
NATO leaders with regard to the Ukraine's borders and all
the things that you normally don't see Defense Secretary doing.
You know, the last guy basically Lloyd Austin read quotes
off of the d D website and he never really
said anything. I think I think Pete heg Seth unfortunately
(01:59):
got out in front of himself a little bit. So
now JD. Vance comes in behind him in a little
bit of a cleanup pear to make sure that if
we're going to start this negotiation with Russia, that it
starts a little different than what pethics if I'd.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Say, okay, so we don't usually try to drag you
into the politics of things. You're a military expert, but
so from lots of people were saying, including us this week,
of why would you take anything off the table immediately
in a negotiation? And the Secretary of Defense did that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, and again I want him to succeed. I think
there's lots of positive aspects of what he's done so far,
but defense secretaries usually don't make policy. Those are the
things for secretary of States. I'm concerned actually that the
President is deep in this as well, because he seems
to kind of go into these negotiations in one hand
and then if they start going south, they'll figure out
(02:48):
a way to separate himself from it. But this is
a serious series next few days coming on here with
what's going on in Ukraine and Russia, and I just
hope that we're ready for it. I'm a little bit concerned,
for example, that General Kellogg has been somewhat stinline. They
left him on the tarmac or on the Delta sky
club someplace. I mean, he was supposed to be the
one that was involved with this, and he doesn't seem
(03:09):
to be involved. You heard the President talk yesterday that
he'd spoken to Vladimir Putin, so we're just not sure,
you know where this is all going. To go and
what's exactly going to look like. But again go back
to the Secretary of Defense. I want him to succeed,
but I think he's been a little bit out of
over Skis the last few days well.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
As far as bringing the war between Ukraine and Russia
to a close, even President zelenski Is said at some
point last year they may not be able to get
back all the territory they lost, so he's willing to
concede that. So say we come up with some sort
of deal where you and Russia has taken like twenty
percent of the country. Yeah, but say you call it
(03:51):
good here and everything like that. What sort of guarantees
can the world offer Ukraine that if you lay down
your arms and Russia attacks again, you know we got
your back. How could that work?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Exactly? In ninety three we gave them security back. Then
under President Clinton when they gave up their nuclear weapons,
and when Russia first went in in twenty fourteen, we
didn't back it up.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Then.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
It only works when there are US troops there on
the ground actually working side by side with Ukrainian forces.
And there should never been any expectation that Ukraine on
itself could defeat Russia based on four times its side.
It's military capability that it has, so it's going to
need some kind of NATO alliance, which again I don't
(04:39):
think we've talked about this before. I still don't believe
that that U Fain will ever become part of NATO
just because it becomes this trip wire that will exist there.
So it is it's a precarious situation. And then you
heard Secretary Hexeth said, well, if you guys do want
to get together and Europe should support Ukraine, United States
(05:00):
won't be part of that. And oh, by the way,
it won't be covered under Article five. So he kind
of muddied the waters with regard to any future security
situation that really didn't have to happen well before the
negotiation of this potential peace treaty.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, I guess I should flat out ask the question
I haven't yet. The news of the day, is there
any chance US troops end up in Ukraine fighting Russians?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Probably not now probability of that. The only way that
happens is if somehow there's an attack on a NATO country.
I think for a secretary hecxcept is right. Is Poland
being this incredible ally. Poland is an amazing NATO ally
right now in terms of what they spend money on
UH and I think you're going to see a brigade
US Army brigade rotate there, kind of like what we
(05:43):
saw what we see in Korea. We're going they're going
to see a large number of a bigger US presence
inside of Poland that's going to act as that deterrence there.
There are some people who believe that Russia won't stop,
that they if they get more of Ukraine and that
they get more than land masks, they will avent going
to the Baltics. But now you're into NATO countries itself.
(06:04):
So you see Finland now has joined NATO and so
the ring is around them. At this point, there's no
place else they can go. The the narcation line now
is clear to the country of Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
And for some positive news that has happened with sec
def Pete or because it's Trump, I don't know who
gets the credit on this. I remember when we had
you on a while back, because the army recruiting had
hit all time lows. Well in December it hit a
twelve year high and in January it hit a fifteen
year high. And I saw some ads out today that
were really really cool, and some video of Pete Hegsith
(06:35):
doing pushups with troops and everything like that. You got
to be feeling good about the direction that's going. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Absolutely, and again and Secretary hex pe Hexad is a
real politique guy. He's like, whatever the situation is in
the world and on the ground. He's not an idy log.
He talked about that yesterday when it came down to
we need weapons and that values in terms of defeating
our enemies. But recruiting numbers are lag indicators, and so
that tells me that this thing actually arded back in
November sixty days ago when the when the president got elected.
(07:04):
So that's the key there. It's not it's not just
that people started, you know, going to enlistment centers here
in January when Trump took over. That's a lag indicator
of stuff that happened a few months ago. And I
think that's that's going to be positive going forward. No question.
He knows President Trump's intent. Lethality a better fit military,
a better fit army in particular, and DEI is being
(07:28):
taken out of the military by branch by root. I
could tell you that from experience, as I watch these
military installations get rid of any aspects of that meritocracy
has returned. I'm glad. I'm glad to see it, and
I think you'll see a better military for it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Well, I know the the doge guys Elon and his
and his and his crew are going to turn their
attention toward the Pentagon here soon. Do you think there's
plenty of places to look for cutting money in the Pentagon?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Well, likely at the macro level, and it's really the defense,
you know, industrial complexes where that's likely coming from. The
question I'm going to have for this administration is looking
over the horizon. I don't think, for example, that the
Trump's idea of an iron dome for the United States
makes sense. I do think we you know, we've got
to we've got to put these in different buckets of land,
(08:17):
of sea and space and air. These different domains is
where focus has got to be. With more focus towards
probably space and air at this point as that drone
technology becomes. But we're never going to be able to
create an iron dome system to protect us that you
go back to the eighties, it feels very nineteen eighty
right about now too, Guys, like you know, it's like
the military is a good time to be in the military.
I think for the next ten years that's going to happen. Well,
(08:38):
Reagan had that SDI initiative back then. It was designed
really to bankrupt the Soviet Union at the time, because
we didn't really have that technology either. Well, it would
be an unrealistic expectation to think that we're going to
protect our homeland from missiles defense because the iron dome
technology in above itself is more or less a tactical
close in defense system, and that something that's going to
(08:58):
protect our whole coastline.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Anyway, interesting back to Russia Ukraine because I'm just looking
above both TV screens and it's a big thing in
the news right now. First of all, some of the
numbers you look at as we next week will be
the three year anniversary of the beginning of this nightmare.
Some of the numbers of how many people have died
(09:20):
or been injured, whether civilians are from a strictly military standpoint,
the number of soldiers taken off the battlefield, particularly on
the Russian side, it's just insane.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, And the fact that they've had to bring mercenaries
in from North Korea and they're being killed. It's just
Russia though, because it has the population, it has the resources,
they can continue to throw bodies at it and Ukraine
can't do that, which is again, look in history, this
is why countries that have greater industrial capabilities win these
(09:52):
wars of attrition, which is why from Trump's perspective, he
just wants it to be over, which is why he'll
do anything and can see anything in order for that
to happen. But the security you know, those security agreements
have got to go forward or Russia will clearly do
this again inside of the Ukraine. They'll try to take
all of Ukraine at some point at least while Vlatimer
Putin is a.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Lot So you think Putin hasn't learned a lesson, damn it,
I'm not doing that again. We come to some sort
of conclusion here, we draw some lines. You think he
would try to take more.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, and that's because he's not just looking at the US.
He's looking at Donald Trump's behavior and his willing to negotiate,
and he looks at the rest of Europe and says
they're still not in the game, right, which they you know,
the UK, the Germans. The Germans are moving towards de industrializing,
the Germans in the French and the traditional countries that
should be stepping up and doing more with regard to defense,
(10:44):
they're not doing it. And the reason why they're not
doing it is because they can't afford it either. What
are they going to do? They're going to go tax
their populations for more money. Part of the reasons that
you know they don't have the military they can't get
to five percent of their GDP is because they don't
have the money to do it, the industrial base to
do it, and so they're in a real pickle themselves.
So I think Putin looks at that. Putin looks at
(11:05):
the fact that the United States doesn't want to have
any part of it anymore, which is why I think
deep down over the horizon he's still would likely if
this agreement is not strong enough, that he'll rearm and
refit in the next few years and try it again.
He still is on a war footing somewhat inside of Russia,
and he has more capability, and we haven't pulled all
(11:25):
the economic levers, and he still has China, North Korea, Iran,
and other countries on his side, so that's why he
gets the power he gets from Interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I'm glad we had you on today. It was a
perfect day to talk to you. Mike Lyons. You can
follow him on Twitter. I do have some big news
story breaks at m aj Mike Lions. Thanks for your
time today, Mike.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Great, guys, that's for me.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
That is interesting that it was the vice president coming
out and saying, Hey, what Pete Hegsath said the other day, No,
let's let's start over again. Nothing is off the table. Well,
that explains it. Joe going on about why would you
take these things? Why would you take away any bargating
position before you even start, And I hadn't heard anybody
(12:08):
come up with an explanation really for that. Well it
turns out he shouldn't have. And now we're starting at
square one, including jd Vance saying it's not off the
it's not out of the question to have US troops
in Ukraine. I don't think that'll happen save some real
craziness of an attack on a NATO country or something
like that. I'm gonna tell that Valentine's Day story, and
(12:31):
we've got some other stuff we need to get to
so stick around please.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Taco Bell has announced that will offer a wedding package
and it's Las Vegas Bulevard location. Then inclus in Elvis impersonator. Okay,
but is it a real Elvis impersonator or just a
Taco Bell customer who died on the toilet?
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Oh my god. Valentine's Day gets way too much attention,
just all the way through, and it's all by people
trying to figure out how to make a dollar off
of you. It's not actually about romance and love and
commitment and all the things that you know matter and
we care about anyway. So to this story, which I've
teased a whole bunch of times, uh, and I heard
(13:15):
this first time long ago, and I got permission to
uh to tell the story, but I will be vague.
So here we go. Katie picture all this. This is
a cute fourth grade girl, all right, gets a call
at home night before Valentine's Day and Dad answers the
(13:35):
phone and little boy says, is I need a name? Madison?
There's a very generic girl name is Madison?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Home?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Sure? Who's this? This is Tucker H Madison. Tucker's on
the phone for you for some reason, Madison talks to Tucker,
and Tucker just says, are you going to be at
school tomorrow? It's the night before Valentine's Day? And uh,
and Madison says yeah, and and they hang up. And
then but Dad is not happy that a boy called
the house, right, and why is a boy calling the house?
(14:07):
And like some real questioning on that, and stay with
you boys, and you're in fourth grade and I don't
know if I like this and blah blah blah. Anyways,
she get that plays into the story. You got to
keep that in mind. Next day, Valentine's Day, in front
of the whole class, when they're doing the Valentine's Day
like handing out cards and stuff like that, Tucker walks
up to Madison with bouquet of flowers, a little bear
(14:31):
in a card like full on, I got a crush
on you. You're my thing, you know, child version of
I love you? Okay. She takes them, walks over to
the trash can in front of the whole class, and
throws them in the trash can. Oh boy, He turns.
(14:51):
Red goes, sits down at his desk, head and hands
and starts sobbing in front of the whole classroom, the teacher,
and eventually then all the kids get back in their
desks and they're getting back to school. Kid is still sobbing.
Everybody knows he's sobbing. Teacher has to go grab the kid,
pull him aside and try to talk him down and
saying it'll be okay and everything like that. The bear
(15:15):
the flowers in the card stay in the trash can
next to the teacher's desk the rest of the day
for everyone to see, while the kid continues to sob
all day long.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Oh my gosh, oh this is so packed.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I know the poor little boy, I know it. And
you know, being a first of all, the first time
in your life you ever have the guts to like
declare I like you. Then you get rejected in public,
and then you're crying because you can't control it, and
then crying in front of your classmates. Fourth grade is
an age where you're you know, you're really really self conscious,
(15:51):
so you'd be horrified by that and what everybody's thinking
of you anyway, and the debris and the.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Trash can all day in front of the cl right sit.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I mentioned this earlier. She and she had a long, bad,
failed marriage. She could change anything in her life. It
wouldn't be not marrying that guy. It would be going
back to fourth grade and not throwing that little boy
stuff in the trash can, because she's been tortured by
it her whole life, partially because the kid goes on
to a life of crime and spends fifteen years in prison.
Fifteen years fifteen years in prison, life of crime, and
(16:23):
she's certain that that rejection is what set him off
on his life of crime. Oh, it's totally her fault.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
Oh, she she damaged that boy.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
This is a hundred percent true story, by the way,
one hundred percent true. When I first heard it, I
was like, mouth open as I heard the story. That's
what I am right now. I can't believe this. Oh
you threw it in the trash right in front of him.
And it was all because she was horrified, like if
he's not supposed to call my house, I'm not supposed
to receive stuff from a boy at school. That's what
drove it. Not a it sounded like a mean girl thing, right,
(16:55):
but well that's but he didn't know any of the
backstory either way. It was mean. Oh my god, Oh,
she created a criminal on Valentine's Day. Oh so your
Valentine Today's gonna be better than that one, almost guarantee,
give it.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Everybody hope Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 7 (17:17):
Jobs are going to go up and prices could go
up somewhat short term, but prices will also go down.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
See what happens. Nobody really knows what's.
Speaker 7 (17:25):
Gonna happen, other than we know that jobs are going
to be produced at levels that we haven't seen before.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
There's President Trump talking about the whole terriff situation the
economy and asked about inflation and whatever. I was just
reading Mark Alprin's newsletter for today, and there are so
many big moving pieces happening at the same time. It's
impossible for the media to keep up with them. To like,
(17:53):
even if you're just trying to be like an honest,
fair arbiter of what's happening, it's really hard to wrap
your handwright all these different pieces. You know, we're gonna
take over Gaza, We're gonna force a piece in Ukraine,
tariffs in all these different countries, some of our friends,
some of our enemies, all the different stuff, the firings,
lots of people, lots of people in government getting letters
(18:15):
finding out their fire today and which I have no
problem with. But all this and it's just anyway, trying
to wrap your head around it is amazing. Let's bring
onto the show Tim Clark. Tim Clark, you might remember
we talked to him years ago. Tim Clark was a
guy who was an expert in strategic communications and public
affairs and government relations and stuff like that. Got brought
into the Trump campaign back in twenty sixteen when Trump
(18:36):
got elected for his first term. Knows a lot about
the way Trump operates and way government operates because he
was involved in HHS, was White House liaison to the
US Department of Health and Human Services back in the day. Anyway,
Tim Clark, welcome back to the Armstrong and Getty Show.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Hey, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You bet you sent me a text yesterday saying, Hey,
would you like me to come on to talk about
RFK Junior's confirmation. But before we get to that, just
in general your old boss and the way he's just
got so many plates spinning the same time. What's your
observation of everything that's going on in the first We're
(19:15):
not even at a month yet.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
No, Well, obviously the US government is bigger than any corporation.
And President Trump is a CEO first and foremost. And
when I work for him in the White House, he
wanted results. He wanted results quick. It wasn't a I'll
give you this plan in thirty days, it was a
I'll give you this plan in two days. That's just
who he is. He demands excellence. And that's going to
(19:41):
be a really healthy process for the thing that we
call the US government, which is bloated and cost too
much and takes too long to do things and waste
a lot of money. And you've got a CEO now
that says I'm going to clean this thing up, and
you partner that up with Elon Musk, and great things
are happening back there right now.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, that's it's interesting to have the expectation of speed.
If you've spent your whole life in government, you wouldn't
have that expectation because you expect everything to play out
over months or many years. That's correct.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So I was part of the Domestic Policy Council in
the in the Executive Office of the President, and one
day the head of the Domestic Policy Council, Joe Rogan
or Joe Grogan, part that Grogan came in and said,
the President wants a Western Lands policy. Okay, good, well,
we'll get the research done. We'll get something done in
thirty days. Said no, no, no, no, no, it's Friday. The
President wants him on this desk on Tuesday. Okay, all right,
(20:36):
we'll just do it, right. That's that's who this president is, right.
He is a no delay, get it done, show me
the results, show me excellence, and he honors that, you know,
he absolutely honors excellence.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I remember seeing Newton Gingrid just his first term, being
interviewed about something. I think it was when Trump had
declared that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel. Now, lots
of presidents had prompt and talked about it, but nobody
ever had the guts to do it. And Newt Gingrich
is talking about regular President comes in, talks about having
Jerusalem be the capital capital. A whole bunch of think
(21:10):
tanks put together proposals over six months, they make their
way through the State Department. The President sees it two
years from now, then forms a committee that No, Trump
just announces Jerusalem's capital.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Now right, yeah, he said, yes, we have a building there, okay,
but that's going to be the embassy next month.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Okay, yeah, i'd the move fast and break things. You know,
Silicon Valley view of handling things doesn't really bother me
that much. But just in general, a lot of people
laugh when he actually named RFK Junior as his nominee,
and then a lot of the mainstream media assumed this
(21:50):
would get shot down before we'd ever get to a vote,
or certainly if you got to a vote, wouldn't get
to confirmed. He is now the Secretary of Health and
Human Services. That has happened. What do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Well, so, first of all, AGHS is the biggest agency
of government on the planet. It spends twenty seven cents
of every sedeal dollars eighty five thousand employees. It's got
some of the most storied agencies within it, like National
Institutes of Health and ihcdc FDA, A huge, huge monolith,
and as we saw during COVID, it just runs at
(22:23):
its own, at its own speed, and like a stampede.
In the case of COVID, things came out of it
that not a lot of people agreed with, but it
just happened. And so I think RFK coming in now
our of case seventy one years old, very healthy guy,
believes in health, wants to restore the value of natural
(22:44):
immunity and living a healthy lifestyle and things like that.
I think it's going to be really really good medicine
for this health agency.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I just do. Let's get back to just the size
of it. Joe and I didn't know this. I remember
when we had the and I think you helped us happen.
You probably made it happen for us. We had the
Secretary of Health and Human Services on Trump's first term,
and I remember Joe saying something, we kind of onto
the Secretary of Defense, but we got you. And his
response was, well, my budget, my budget's a lot bigger
(23:12):
than his. And we're like, WHOA not realizing Health and
Human Services is, as you said, the biggest government agency
on planet Earth. Just flat out.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, one point seven trillion dollar budget. It's just huge.
And again, twenty seven cents of every federal dollar spent
goes through HHS.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
What is going to be the main priority of RFK Junior.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Do you think, well, he's got a lot to do.
He's already got doze on the ground. Those is going
through Medicaid Medicare, which are huge programs, and so he's
got to figure that out. He's got a staff. The
staff is probably wondering what's going to happen. He's got
eighty five thousand staff plus a number of contractors. I'm
almost double that when you add in the contractors. Got
(23:55):
to figure that out. So on the operational level itself,
he's got a big job to do, and he's got
a job to do in restoring the transparency. The AHHS
used to be the gold standard in the world for
research and for transparency, and here's what's going on. And
again during COVID, a lot of doctors woke up and said, hey,
wait a minute, what's happening here. I'm working with a
(24:16):
group of doctors right now called the Independent Medical Alliance
the IMA, And these are fifteen thousand doctors who on
the front lines during COVID had a ce change in
how they helped about HHS and how it operates. And
so they've been one of the primary drivers to behind
RFK and getting him into HS because we need to
we need to open the opportunity to see everything. We
(24:36):
need to see the bear's data at CDC and see
what's happening with these vaccines.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Can explain that a little more. Why was there a
c change in the way all these doctors saw AHHS.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Well, So, for example, the head of this group, guy
named Joe Verona, has a hospital down in Houston, and
he was administering the COVID vaccine and he was seeing
these side effects. He says, wait a minute, maybe we
should slow down a little bit, and AHHS came in
and just just hammered on him and said, no, you
either follow the plan or we're going to We're going
to hurt your practice. And he actually started dispensing ivermectin
(25:08):
and became one of the biggest ivermectin guys in the
country during COVID. And I talked to Joe the doctor
Rod who's super compet He says, look, I was one
hundred percent pro vaccine prior to COVID, and now, based
on what happened there, I'm still pro vaccine, but I'm
pro let's find the data and make sure that all
these vaccines that we're giving. Where you know, give seventy
(25:29):
two vaccines to infants, whatever happened when they were only
getting ten, how do they ever survive? But now infant
seventy two vaccines and these doctors are saying, wait a minute,
let's make sure everything we're doing is healthy and safe.
Let's just not run like a stampede off the cliff
with some of these things that are taking place.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
That's really interesting. That's really interesting. I'm glad we had
you on. Thanks for reaching out. And if we ever
are talking about something you know about and you want
to weigh in, feel free to text or give us
a call.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Okay, glad to do it.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
That's Tim Clark. He was the liaison to the Department
of Health in Human Services in Trump's first term and
worked on the campaign back in sixteen. I don't know
that a lot of people realize that RFK Junior is
now running the biggest government agency in the entire world,
eighty thousand employees and just an insanely large budget. But
(26:20):
I think everybody's view of HHS changed through COVID. Okay,
you're just or can be. You can be just as
political as anything else. Obviously, I guess in retrospect, you
can be just as political as everything else around what
we shouldn't shouldn't do, or the pressures to support this
(26:42):
or deny that, and more. Transparency's always the best answer
on that in my opinion. So the story of the
little girl breaking the little boy's heart. We're getting a
lot of texts about that. I will go through the
texts and and bring you the best ones coming up.
(27:04):
This little girl is now an adult woman and a
very nice person, but she's coming in from decent kicking
on the text line, I don't know what, I don't
know this is gonna play out. So AnyWho, uh, we've
got that all the way, stay here. It's Valentine's said,
you get that. The day after Gallentine's that, the Center
(27:29):
Radio colleague a text saying are you and your friends
celebrating Gallantine's Day? And the person said, I am so
horrified that I now have that phrase in my phone.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
I'm gonna say, did she reach the phone and smack you?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
But it's Valentine's Day to day? And I told the
story earlier this hour. It's funny. It got several texts
saying that's obviously exaggerated or this sounds made up. It
is one hundred percent true.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I believe it.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
It's awful, very quick version boy like really goes all
out fourth grade for their Valentine's Day card exchanges the
way we used to do them back in the old days,
when they are allowing people to hurt each other's feelings. Anyway,
boy shows up with a little Teddy Bear flowers card,
the whole thing for girl. She throws them in the
(28:21):
trash in front of the whole class because her dad
had told her to stay away from boys. So but anyway,
he's crushed and cries the rest of the day. He
ends up going to prison as a lifelong criminal. She
believes that that's the reason, which I don't know. You
can connect those two dots, but it probably didn't. You can, Okay,
(28:41):
we got some texts about that I was one of
those unpopular, not cute girls that got hardly any Valentines
or skunk cards. You probably are too young for this, Katie.
I can't believe this is true. But when I was
a kid, if you bought a pack of Valentine's Day cards,
it came with two skunk cards that everybody gave to
(29:02):
the using my finger quotes ugly girls, which is just horrible.
But you know how kids are.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
And I am too young for that. That's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
It's beyond believing that it actually went on and teachers
didn't intervene, and so the girls that were either awkward
or not cute or shy or whatever would get fifty
skunk cards, like like the day was designed to have.
By the way, in case you're feeling awkward, here's a
written document to show that all the boys in this
(29:35):
class feel this way about you have a nice life.
I mean, it is as cruel as anything could possibly be.
I can't believe it existed. My jaw is on the floor. Really,
you didn't know about this.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
I've never heard of this in my life.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I did this first through whenever we stopped sixth grade
or something like that every year, and we thought it
was so funny the girls that got the skunk cards. Anyway,
here this person's texting. I was one of those unpopular,
not cute girls that got hardly any Valentine's or I
got the skunk cards. I still, she writes in all caps.
Remember the feeling of disappointment and embarrassment when my family
was excited for me when opening them at home and
(30:09):
I got skunk cards. That is heartbreaking as anything could be.
That's evil. I might have kept my kid home from school,
of course, that might have made it worse. But jeez,
that it is evil. What the hell some of the
things that we come up with. Why are we introducing
love and romance to second graders in the first place. Yeah,
(30:29):
let's just let's start there. Yeah, let it. Let it
unfold naturally on its own, because it's it happens at
different ages for different people, different levels of maturity. And
then forcing the whole you need to declare who you like.
Let's declare who's popular and who's unpopular everybody. Let's make
it even e it's I can't.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Believe it's already awkward out of place. Let's give them
a skunk card. I was a boy and I dreaded
Valentine's Day every year. I can't imagine being in you know,
anybody but the like three most popular girls. Everybody else
in the class had to hate it awful.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
And we had the same thing in our class where
he made the little mail box and people would put
stuff in there, and it was a four. It gave
me a form of anxiety sitting there because you go,
you know, am I going to get anything?
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I don't know, because I was an awkward kid man.
My son gave a girl and I like you note
in the fourth gate grade and the girl read it
in front of the whole class and laughed at him. Dude,
kids are rud I hate this girl to that day,
says this parent. Uh. I think the person that actually
(31:39):
is involved in this story might be listening, But I'm
reading this text. That fourth grade girl, no doubt, turned
out to be a horrible grown up. That is behavior
that is innate, not learned. So sad. Oh boy, Yes, Michael,
do you think she panicked?
Speaker 5 (31:54):
I'm picturing a little girl that maybe was afraid, so
afraid of her dad that she stuff and through it.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
And he's a good dad. It's just emotionally, just new.
I'm not supposed to do this. I'm not supposed to
be interacting with boys. And that's exactly what happened. She
panicked and through the stuff in the trash can.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
Yeah, it just played out in the worst scenario possible.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Oh God, when I picture that little fourth grade boy
sitting there crying in front of the class, Oh, it
is rough this text a different opinion. His parents should
never have allowed him to put that little girl on
the spot. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
Actually that's a great because, I mean, he didn't buy
that stuff himself.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
No, that's a tough one because my son laid it
all on the line. And it was about fourth grade.
It wasn't for Valentine's Day, but it was just a
he had a crush on a girl and he decided
he was going to write her a note about how
much he liked her and everything like that. And he
talked to me about it, and I just, you know,
I told him, you know, you always have to realize
the possibility that she might not like you too, to
(32:51):
try to you know, prepare for what eventually happened. But
I thought, it's just, you know, it's part of the
growing up experience. You're gonna do it at some point.
But he did that and got fairly rejected and other
kids found out about it and it was embarrassing and
he hasn't done it since. And I don't know.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
Yeah, I had a situation when I was in Oh gosh,
my mom's going to correct me on this. I think
it was first grade. We're on Valentine's Day. A kid
in our class gave me a very small picture frame
with his picture in it, and I didn't know, I
didn't know what to do with it, so I, you know,
thank you and took it home and like the next day,
(33:29):
I guess I didn't talk to him at all or whatever.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
And he's gay now. So life is hard. Childhood is
so hard, Adulthood is hard without all this crap.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
It'd be nice if the Hallmark Company or Sees Candy
didn't add to the pretending that all you care about
is love and people coming together and not just you
make a lot more money this time. I'll get to
some more of those texts a little bit later on
that topic. It's just it's rough. We got this text
is kind of funny. Funniest Valentine's Day ad I heard
(34:08):
on the radio the other day was a line of
floral bouquets I haven't heard this, called the how mad
is she? Floral bouquet? And you can choose different kinds.
There's the silent treatment mad, which is daffodils and daisies,
Passive aggressive mad, which is two dozen roses, slam the
door mad, which is a different kind of flowers, peel
out of the driveway mad you never help with housework mad,
(34:32):
and different kinds of different flowers for the different scenario.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
It's nice.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
There you go. It is nice whenever Joe is Gone
or I Am Gone. We almost always bring on Tim
Sanderfer Tim the lawyer who's fan favorite. If you've never
heard him before, stick around because everybody always likes him
and wishes he'd come on more often. He had a
heck of an interesting text today or a tweet rather
that I want to ask him about, among other things.
(34:59):
An hour three fem Misus Say gets podcast Armstrong and
Getty on demand.
Speaker 6 (35:04):
Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 7 (35:07):
Mm hmm
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty arm Strong
and Gattety and he Armstrong and Getty House things. So far,
(00:28):
it's running almost well. It's one hundred percent of people
I'm talking to who do or don't like Valentine's Day,
and everybody around here hates it. So I don't know,
maybe it's the kind of people to get into the
radio business.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
There's some news to talk about. I already had things
I wanted to talk to Mike Lyons about, but there
are things in the news today that we need to
bring up. Mike Lions military analysts we regularly have on
You can follow him at maj Is in Major Mike
Lions because he was serving with various military organizations in
both the United States and Europe throughout it his career.
We love getting his perspective on things. Hey, Mike, welcome
(01:04):
to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Hey guys, great to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I guess we got to start with JD. Vance saying
in the Wall Street Journal that all options are on
the table, including US troops in Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah. I think a lot of that has to do
with kind of clean up on al five for what
the Secretary of Defense has said. Pete hegg Seth, who
you know, watching him closely, trying to see if he's,
you know, getting off to a good start or not.
He's not really, frankly, had a very good week. He's
trying to implement the intent of this president. Note you
(01:38):
know very clearly. But I think he got out over
skis when he talked to those European leaders, to the
NATO leaders with regard to the Ukraine's borders and all
the things that you normally don't see Defense Secretary doing.
You know, the last guy basically Lloyd Austin read quotes
off of the d D website and he never really
said anything. I think I think Pete heg Seth unfortunately
(01:59):
got out in front of himself a little bit. So
now JD. Vance comes in behind him in a little
bit of a cleanup pear to make sure that if
we're going to start this negotiation with Russia, that it
starts a little different than what pethics if I'd.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Say, okay, so we don't usually try to drag you
into the politics of things. You're a military expert, but
so from lots of people were saying, including us this week,
of why would you take anything off the table immediately
in a negotiation? And the Secretary of Defense did that.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yeah, and again I want him to succeed. I think
there's lots of positive aspects of what he's done so far,
but defense secretaries usually don't make policy. Those are the
things for secretary of States. I'm concerned actually that the
President is deep in this as well, because he seems
to kind of go into these negotiations in one hand
and then if they start going south, they'll figure out
(02:48):
a way to separate himself from it. But this is
a serious series next few days coming on here with
what's going on in Ukraine and Russia, and I just
hope that we're ready for it. I'm a little bit concerned,
for example, that General Kellogg has been somewhat stinline. They
left him on the tarmac or on the Delta sky
club someplace. I mean, he was supposed to be the
one that was involved with this, and he doesn't seem
(03:09):
to be involved. You heard the President talk yesterday that
he'd spoken to Vladimir Putin, so we're just not sure,
you know where this is all going. To go and
what's exactly going to look like. But again go back
to the Secretary of Defense. I want him to succeed,
but I think he's been a little bit out of
over Skis the last few days well.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
As far as bringing the war between Ukraine and Russia
to a close, even President zelenski Is said at some
point last year they may not be able to get
back all the territory they lost, so he's willing to
concede that. So say we come up with some sort
of deal where you and Russia has taken like twenty
percent of the country. Yeah, but say you call it
(03:51):
good here and everything like that. What sort of guarantees
can the world offer Ukraine that if you lay down
your arms and Russia attacks again, you know we got
your back. How could that work?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Exactly? In ninety three we gave them security back. Then
under President Clinton when they gave up their nuclear weapons,
and when Russia first went in in twenty fourteen, we
didn't back it up.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Then.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
It only works when there are US troops there on
the ground actually working side by side with Ukrainian forces.
And there should never been any expectation that Ukraine on
itself could defeat Russia based on four times its side.
It's military capability that it has, so it's going to
need some kind of NATO alliance, which again I don't
(04:39):
think we've talked about this before. I still don't believe
that that U Fain will ever become part of NATO
just because it becomes this trip wire that will exist there.
So it is it's a precarious situation. And then you
heard Secretary Hexeth said, well, if you guys do want
to get together and Europe should support Ukraine, United States
(05:00):
won't be part of that. And oh, by the way,
it won't be covered under Article five. So he kind
of muddied the waters with regard to any future security
situation that really didn't have to happen well before the
negotiation of this potential peace treaty.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, I guess I should flat out ask the question
I haven't yet. The news of the day, is there
any chance US troops end up in Ukraine fighting Russians?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Probably not now probability of that. The only way that
happens is if somehow there's an attack on a NATO country.
I think for a secretary hecxcept is right. Is Poland
being this incredible ally. Poland is an amazing NATO ally
right now in terms of what they spend money on
UH and I think you're going to see a brigade
US Army brigade rotate there, kind of like what we
(05:43):
saw what we see in Korea. We're going they're going
to see a large number of a bigger US presence
inside of Poland that's going to act as that deterrence there.
There are some people who believe that Russia won't stop,
that they if they get more of Ukraine and that
they get more than land masks, they will avent going
to the Baltics. But now you're into NATO countries itself.
(06:04):
So you see Finland now has joined NATO and so
the ring is around them. At this point, there's no
place else they can go. The the narcation line now
is clear to the country of Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
And for some positive news that has happened with sec
def Pete or because it's Trump, I don't know who
gets the credit on this. I remember when we had
you on a while back, because the army recruiting had
hit all time lows. Well in December it hit a
twelve year high and in January it hit a fifteen
year high. And I saw some ads out today that
were really really cool, and some video of Pete Hegsith
(06:35):
doing pushups with troops and everything like that. You got
to be feeling good about the direction that's going. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Absolutely, and again and Secretary hex pe Hexad is a
real politique guy. He's like, whatever the situation is in
the world and on the ground. He's not an idy log.
He talked about that yesterday when it came down to
we need weapons and that values in terms of defeating
our enemies. But recruiting numbers are lag indicators, and so
that tells me that this thing actually arded back in
November sixty days ago when the when the president got elected.
(07:04):
So that's the key there. It's not it's not just
that people started, you know, going to enlistment centers here
in January when Trump took over. That's a lag indicator
of stuff that happened a few months ago. And I
think that's that's going to be positive going forward. No question.
He knows President Trump's intent. Lethality a better fit military,
a better fit army in particular, and DEI is being
(07:28):
taken out of the military by branch by root. I
could tell you that from experience, as I watch these
military installations get rid of any aspects of that meritocracy
has returned. I'm glad. I'm glad to see it, and
I think you'll see a better military for it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Well, I know the the doge guys Elon and his
and his and his crew are going to turn their
attention toward the Pentagon here soon. Do you think there's
plenty of places to look for cutting money in the Pentagon?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Well, likely at the macro level, and it's really the defense,
you know, industrial complexes where that's likely coming from. The
question I'm going to have for this administration is looking
over the horizon. I don't think, for example, that the
Trump's idea of an iron dome for the United States
makes sense. I do think we you know, we've got
to we've got to put these in different buckets of land,
(08:17):
of sea and space and air. These different domains is
where focus has got to be. With more focus towards
probably space and air at this point as that drone
technology becomes. But we're never going to be able to
create an iron dome system to protect us that you
go back to the eighties, it feels very nineteen eighty
right about now too, Guys, like you know, it's like
the military is a good time to be in the military.
I think for the next ten years that's going to happen. Well,
(08:38):
Reagan had that SDI initiative back then. It was designed
really to bankrupt the Soviet Union at the time, because
we didn't really have that technology either. Well, it would
be an unrealistic expectation to think that we're going to
protect our homeland from missiles defense because the iron dome
technology in above itself is more or less a tactical
close in defense system, and that something that's going to
(08:58):
protect our whole coastline.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Anyway, interesting back to Russia Ukraine because I'm just looking
above both TV screens and it's a big thing in
the news right now. First of all, some of the
numbers you look at as we next week will be
the three year anniversary of the beginning of this nightmare.
Some of the numbers of how many people have died
(09:20):
or been injured, whether civilians are from a strictly military standpoint,
the number of soldiers taken off the battlefield, particularly on
the Russian side, it's just insane.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, And the fact that they've had to bring mercenaries
in from North Korea and they're being killed. It's just
Russia though, because it has the population, it has the resources,
they can continue to throw bodies at it and Ukraine
can't do that, which is again, look in history, this
is why countries that have greater industrial capabilities win these
(09:52):
wars of attrition, which is why from Trump's perspective, he
just wants it to be over, which is why he'll
do anything and can see anything in order for that
to happen. But the security you know, those security agreements
have got to go forward or Russia will clearly do
this again inside of the Ukraine. They'll try to take
all of Ukraine at some point at least while Vlatimer
Putin is a.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Lot So you think Putin hasn't learned a lesson, damn it,
I'm not doing that again. We come to some sort
of conclusion here, we draw some lines. You think he
would try to take more.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, and that's because he's not just looking at the US.
He's looking at Donald Trump's behavior and his willing to negotiate,
and he looks at the rest of Europe and says
they're still not in the game, right, which they you know,
the UK, the Germans. The Germans are moving towards de industrializing,
the Germans in the French and the traditional countries that
should be stepping up and doing more with regard to defense,
(10:44):
they're not doing it. And the reason why they're not
doing it is because they can't afford it either. What
are they going to do? They're going to go tax
their populations for more money. Part of the reasons that
you know they don't have the military they can't get
to five percent of their GDP is because they don't
have the money to do it, the industrial base to
do it, and so they're in a real pickle themselves.
So I think Putin looks at that. Putin looks at
(11:05):
the fact that the United States doesn't want to have
any part of it anymore, which is why I think
deep down over the horizon he's still would likely if
this agreement is not strong enough, that he'll rearm and
refit in the next few years and try it again.
He still is on a war footing somewhat inside of Russia,
and he has more capability, and we haven't pulled all
(11:25):
the economic levers, and he still has China, North Korea, Iran,
and other countries on his side, so that's why he
gets the power he gets from Interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I'm glad we had you on today. It was a
perfect day to talk to you. Mike Lyons. You can
follow him on Twitter. I do have some big news
story breaks at m aj Mike Lions. Thanks for your
time today, Mike.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Great, guys, that's for me.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
That is interesting that it was the vice president coming
out and saying, Hey, what Pete Hegsath said the other day, No,
let's let's start over again. Nothing is off the table. Well,
that explains it. Joe going on about why would you
take these things? Why would you take away any bargating
position before you even start, And I hadn't heard anybody
(12:08):
come up with an explanation really for that. Well it
turns out he shouldn't have. And now we're starting at
square one, including jd Vance saying it's not off the
it's not out of the question to have US troops
in Ukraine. I don't think that'll happen save some real
craziness of an attack on a NATO country or something
like that. I'm gonna tell that Valentine's Day story, and
(12:31):
we've got some other stuff we need to get to
so stick around please.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Taco Bell has announced that will offer a wedding package
and it's Las Vegas Bulevard location. Then inclus in Elvis impersonator. Okay,
but is it a real Elvis impersonator or just a
Taco Bell customer who died on the toilet?
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Oh my god. Valentine's Day gets way too much attention,
just all the way through, and it's all by people
trying to figure out how to make a dollar off
of you. It's not actually about romance and love and
commitment and all the things that you know matter and
we care about anyway. So to this story, which I've
teased a whole bunch of times, uh, and I heard
(13:15):
this first time long ago, and I got permission to
uh to tell the story, but I will be vague.
So here we go. Katie picture all this. This is
a cute fourth grade girl, all right, gets a call
at home night before Valentine's Day and Dad answers the
(13:35):
phone and little boy says, is I need a name? Madison?
There's a very generic girl name is Madison?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Home?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Sure? Who's this? This is Tucker H Madison. Tucker's on
the phone for you for some reason, Madison talks to Tucker,
and Tucker just says, are you going to be at
school tomorrow? It's the night before Valentine's Day? And uh,
and Madison says yeah, and and they hang up. And
then but Dad is not happy that a boy called
the house, right, and why is a boy calling the house?
(14:07):
And like some real questioning on that, and stay with
you boys, and you're in fourth grade and I don't
know if I like this and blah blah blah. Anyways,
she get that plays into the story. You got to
keep that in mind. Next day, Valentine's Day, in front
of the whole class, when they're doing the Valentine's Day
like handing out cards and stuff like that, Tucker walks
up to Madison with bouquet of flowers, a little bear
(14:31):
in a card like full on, I got a crush
on you. You're my thing, you know, child version of
I love you? Okay. She takes them, walks over to
the trash can in front of the whole class, and
throws them in the trash can. Oh boy, He turns.
(14:51):
Red goes, sits down at his desk, head and hands
and starts sobbing in front of the whole classroom, the teacher,
and eventually then all the kids get back in their
desks and they're getting back to school. Kid is still sobbing.
Everybody knows he's sobbing. Teacher has to go grab the kid,
pull him aside and try to talk him down and
saying it'll be okay and everything like that. The bear
(15:15):
the flowers in the card stay in the trash can
next to the teacher's desk the rest of the day
for everyone to see, while the kid continues to sob
all day long.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Oh my gosh, oh this is so packed.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I know the poor little boy, I know it. And
you know, being a first of all, the first time
in your life you ever have the guts to like
declare I like you. Then you get rejected in public,
and then you're crying because you can't control it, and
then crying in front of your classmates. Fourth grade is
an age where you're you know, you're really really self conscious,
(15:51):
so you'd be horrified by that and what everybody's thinking
of you anyway, and the debris and the.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Trash can all day in front of the cl right sit.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I mentioned this earlier. She and she had a long, bad,
failed marriage. She could change anything in her life. It
wouldn't be not marrying that guy. It would be going
back to fourth grade and not throwing that little boy
stuff in the trash can, because she's been tortured by
it her whole life, partially because the kid goes on
to a life of crime and spends fifteen years in prison.
Fifteen years fifteen years in prison, life of crime, and
(16:23):
she's certain that that rejection is what set him off
on his life of crime. Oh, it's totally her fault.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
Oh, she she damaged that boy.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
This is a hundred percent true story, by the way,
one hundred percent true. When I first heard it, I
was like, mouth open as I heard the story. That's
what I am right now. I can't believe this. Oh
you threw it in the trash right in front of him.
And it was all because she was horrified, like if
he's not supposed to call my house, I'm not supposed
to receive stuff from a boy at school. That's what
drove it. Not a it sounded like a mean girl thing, right,
(16:55):
but well that's but he didn't know any of the
backstory either way. It was mean. Oh my god, Oh,
she created a criminal on Valentine's Day. Oh so your
Valentine Today's gonna be better than that one, almost guarantee,
give it.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Everybody hope Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 7 (17:17):
Jobs are going to go up and prices could go
up somewhat short term, but prices will also go down.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
See what happens. Nobody really knows what's.
Speaker 7 (17:25):
Gonna happen, other than we know that jobs are going
to be produced at levels that we haven't seen before.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
There's President Trump talking about the whole terriff situation the
economy and asked about inflation and whatever. I was just
reading Mark Alprin's newsletter for today, and there are so
many big moving pieces happening at the same time. It's
impossible for the media to keep up with them. To like,
(17:53):
even if you're just trying to be like an honest,
fair arbiter of what's happening, it's really hard to wrap
your handwright all these different pieces. You know, we're gonna
take over Gaza, We're gonna force a piece in Ukraine,
tariffs in all these different countries, some of our friends,
some of our enemies, all the different stuff, the firings,
lots of people, lots of people in government getting letters
(18:15):
finding out their fire today and which I have no
problem with. But all this and it's just anyway, trying
to wrap your head around it is amazing. Let's bring
onto the show Tim Clark. Tim Clark, you might remember
we talked to him years ago. Tim Clark was a
guy who was an expert in strategic communications and public
affairs and government relations and stuff like that. Got brought
into the Trump campaign back in twenty sixteen when Trump
(18:36):
got elected for his first term. Knows a lot about
the way Trump operates and way government operates because he
was involved in HHS, was White House liaison to the
US Department of Health and Human Services back in the day. Anyway,
Tim Clark, welcome back to the Armstrong and Getty Show.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Hey, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You bet you sent me a text yesterday saying, Hey,
would you like me to come on to talk about
RFK Junior's confirmation. But before we get to that, just
in general your old boss and the way he's just
got so many plates spinning the same time. What's your
observation of everything that's going on in the first We're
(19:15):
not even at a month yet.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
No, Well, obviously the US government is bigger than any corporation.
And President Trump is a CEO first and foremost. And
when I work for him in the White House, he
wanted results. He wanted results quick. It wasn't a I'll
give you this plan in thirty days, it was a
I'll give you this plan in two days. That's just
who he is. He demands excellence. And that's going to
(19:41):
be a really healthy process for the thing that we
call the US government, which is bloated and cost too
much and takes too long to do things and waste
a lot of money. And you've got a CEO now
that says I'm going to clean this thing up, and
you partner that up with Elon Musk, and great things
are happening back there right now.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, that's it's interesting to have the expectation of speed.
If you've spent your whole life in government, you wouldn't
have that expectation because you expect everything to play out
over months or many years. That's correct.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So I was part of the Domestic Policy Council in
the in the Executive Office of the President, and one
day the head of the Domestic Policy Council, Joe Rogan
or Joe Grogan, part that Grogan came in and said,
the President wants a Western Lands policy. Okay, good, well,
we'll get the research done. We'll get something done in
thirty days. Said no, no, no, no, no, it's Friday. The
President wants him on this desk on Tuesday. Okay, all right,
(20:36):
we'll just do it, right. That's that's who this president is, right.
He is a no delay, get it done, show me
the results, show me excellence, and he honors that, you know,
he absolutely honors excellence.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I remember seeing Newton Gingrid just his first term, being
interviewed about something. I think it was when Trump had
declared that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel. Now, lots
of presidents had prompt and talked about it, but nobody
ever had the guts to do it. And Newt Gingrich
is talking about regular President comes in, talks about having
Jerusalem be the capital capital. A whole bunch of think
(21:10):
tanks put together proposals over six months, they make their
way through the State Department. The President sees it two
years from now, then forms a committee that No, Trump
just announces Jerusalem's capital.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Now right, yeah, he said, yes, we have a building there, okay,
but that's going to be the embassy next month.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Okay, yeah, i'd the move fast and break things. You know,
Silicon Valley view of handling things doesn't really bother me
that much. But just in general, a lot of people
laugh when he actually named RFK Junior as his nominee,
and then a lot of the mainstream media assumed this
(21:50):
would get shot down before we'd ever get to a vote,
or certainly if you got to a vote, wouldn't get
to confirmed. He is now the Secretary of Health and
Human Services. That has happened. What do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Well, so, first of all, AGHS is the biggest agency
of government on the planet. It spends twenty seven cents
of every sedeal dollars eighty five thousand employees. It's got
some of the most storied agencies within it, like National
Institutes of Health and ihcdc FDA, A huge, huge monolith,
and as we saw during COVID, it just runs at
(22:23):
its own, at its own speed, and like a stampede.
In the case of COVID, things came out of it
that not a lot of people agreed with, but it
just happened. And so I think RFK coming in now
our of case seventy one years old, very healthy guy,
believes in health, wants to restore the value of natural
(22:44):
immunity and living a healthy lifestyle and things like that.
I think it's going to be really really good medicine
for this health agency.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I just do. Let's get back to just the size
of it. Joe and I didn't know this. I remember
when we had the and I think you helped us happen.
You probably made it happen for us. We had the
Secretary of Health and Human Services on Trump's first term,
and I remember Joe saying something, we kind of onto
the Secretary of Defense, but we got you. And his
response was, well, my budget, my budget's a lot bigger
(23:12):
than his. And we're like, WHOA not realizing Health and
Human Services is, as you said, the biggest government agency
on planet Earth. Just flat out.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, one point seven trillion dollar budget. It's just huge.
And again, twenty seven cents of every federal dollar spent
goes through HHS.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
What is going to be the main priority of RFK Junior.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Do you think, well, he's got a lot to do.
He's already got doze on the ground. Those is going
through Medicaid Medicare, which are huge programs, and so he's
got to figure that out. He's got a staff. The
staff is probably wondering what's going to happen. He's got
eighty five thousand staff plus a number of contractors. I'm
almost double that when you add in the contractors. Got
(23:55):
to figure that out. So on the operational level itself,
he's got a big job to do, and he's got
a job to do in restoring the transparency. The AHHS
used to be the gold standard in the world for
research and for transparency, and here's what's going on. And
again during COVID, a lot of doctors woke up and said, hey,
wait a minute, what's happening here. I'm working with a
(24:16):
group of doctors right now called the Independent Medical Alliance
the IMA, And these are fifteen thousand doctors who on
the front lines during COVID had a ce change in
how they helped about HHS and how it operates. And
so they've been one of the primary drivers to behind
RFK and getting him into HS because we need to
we need to open the opportunity to see everything. We
(24:36):
need to see the bear's data at CDC and see
what's happening with these vaccines.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Can explain that a little more. Why was there a
c change in the way all these doctors saw AHHS.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Well, So, for example, the head of this group, guy
named Joe Verona, has a hospital down in Houston, and
he was administering the COVID vaccine and he was seeing
these side effects. He says, wait a minute, maybe we
should slow down a little bit, and AHHS came in
and just just hammered on him and said, no, you
either follow the plan or we're going to We're going
to hurt your practice. And he actually started dispensing ivermectin
(25:08):
and became one of the biggest ivermectin guys in the
country during COVID. And I talked to Joe the doctor
Rod who's super compet He says, look, I was one
hundred percent pro vaccine prior to COVID, and now, based
on what happened there, I'm still pro vaccine, but I'm
pro let's find the data and make sure that all
these vaccines that we're giving. Where you know, give seventy
(25:29):
two vaccines to infants, whatever happened when they were only
getting ten, how do they ever survive? But now infant
seventy two vaccines and these doctors are saying, wait a minute,
let's make sure everything we're doing is healthy and safe.
Let's just not run like a stampede off the cliff
with some of these things that are taking place.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
That's really interesting. That's really interesting. I'm glad we had
you on. Thanks for reaching out. And if we ever
are talking about something you know about and you want
to weigh in, feel free to text or give us
a call.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Okay, glad to do it.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
That's Tim Clark. He was the liaison to the Department
of Health in Human Services in Trump's first term and
worked on the campaign back in sixteen. I don't know
that a lot of people realize that RFK Junior is
now running the biggest government agency in the entire world,
eighty thousand employees and just an insanely large budget. But
(26:20):
I think everybody's view of HHS changed through COVID. Okay,
you're just or can be. You can be just as
political as anything else. Obviously, I guess in retrospect, you
can be just as political as everything else around what
we shouldn't shouldn't do, or the pressures to support this
(26:42):
or deny that, and more. Transparency's always the best answer
on that in my opinion. So the story of the
little girl breaking the little boy's heart. We're getting a
lot of texts about that. I will go through the
texts and and bring you the best ones coming up.
(27:04):
This little girl is now an adult woman and a
very nice person, but she's coming in from decent kicking
on the text line, I don't know what, I don't
know this is gonna play out. So AnyWho, uh, we've
got that all the way, stay here. It's Valentine's said,
you get that. The day after Gallentine's that, the Center
(27:29):
Radio colleague a text saying are you and your friends
celebrating Gallantine's Day? And the person said, I am so
horrified that I now have that phrase in my phone.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
I'm gonna say, did she reach the phone and smack you?
Speaker 1 (27:45):
But it's Valentine's Day to day? And I told the
story earlier this hour. It's funny. It got several texts
saying that's obviously exaggerated or this sounds made up. It
is one hundred percent true.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I believe it.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
It's awful, very quick version boy like really goes all
out fourth grade for their Valentine's Day card exchanges the
way we used to do them back in the old days,
when they are allowing people to hurt each other's feelings. Anyway,
boy shows up with a little Teddy Bear flowers card,
the whole thing for girl. She throws them in the
(28:21):
trash in front of the whole class because her dad
had told her to stay away from boys. So but anyway,
he's crushed and cries the rest of the day. He
ends up going to prison as a lifelong criminal. She
believes that that's the reason, which I don't know. You
can connect those two dots, but it probably didn't. You can, Okay,
(28:41):
we got some texts about that I was one of
those unpopular, not cute girls that got hardly any Valentines
or skunk cards. You probably are too young for this, Katie.
I can't believe this is true. But when I was
a kid, if you bought a pack of Valentine's Day cards,
it came with two skunk cards that everybody gave to
(29:02):
the using my finger quotes ugly girls, which is just horrible.
But you know how kids are.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
And I am too young for that. That's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
It's beyond believing that it actually went on and teachers
didn't intervene, and so the girls that were either awkward
or not cute or shy or whatever would get fifty
skunk cards, like like the day was designed to have.
By the way, in case you're feeling awkward, here's a
written document to show that all the boys in this
(29:35):
class feel this way about you have a nice life.
I mean, it is as cruel as anything could possibly be.
I can't believe it existed. My jaw is on the floor. Really,
you didn't know about this.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
I've never heard of this in my life.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I did this first through whenever we stopped sixth grade
or something like that every year, and we thought it
was so funny the girls that got the skunk cards. Anyway,
here this person's texting. I was one of those unpopular,
not cute girls that got hardly any Valentine's or I
got the skunk cards. I still, she writes in all caps.
Remember the feeling of disappointment and embarrassment when my family
was excited for me when opening them at home and
(30:09):
I got skunk cards. That is heartbreaking as anything could be.
That's evil. I might have kept my kid home from school,
of course, that might have made it worse. But jeez,
that it is evil. What the hell some of the
things that we come up with. Why are we introducing
love and romance to second graders in the first place. Yeah,
(30:29):
let's just let's start there. Yeah, let it. Let it
unfold naturally on its own, because it's it happens at
different ages for different people, different levels of maturity. And
then forcing the whole you need to declare who you like.
Let's declare who's popular and who's unpopular everybody. Let's make
it even e it's I can't.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Believe it's already awkward out of place. Let's give them
a skunk card. I was a boy and I dreaded
Valentine's Day every year. I can't imagine being in you know,
anybody but the like three most popular girls. Everybody else
in the class had to hate it awful.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
And we had the same thing in our class where
he made the little mail box and people would put
stuff in there, and it was a four. It gave
me a form of anxiety sitting there because you go,
you know, am I going to get anything?
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I don't know, because I was an awkward kid man.
My son gave a girl and I like you note
in the fourth gate grade and the girl read it
in front of the whole class and laughed at him. Dude,
kids are rud I hate this girl to that day,
says this parent. Uh. I think the person that actually
(31:39):
is involved in this story might be listening, But I'm
reading this text. That fourth grade girl, no doubt, turned
out to be a horrible grown up. That is behavior
that is innate, not learned. So sad. Oh boy, Yes, Michael,
do you think she panicked?
Speaker 5 (31:54):
I'm picturing a little girl that maybe was afraid, so
afraid of her dad that she stuff and through it.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
And he's a good dad. It's just emotionally, just new.
I'm not supposed to do this. I'm not supposed to
be interacting with boys. And that's exactly what happened. She
panicked and through the stuff in the trash can.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
Yeah, it just played out in the worst scenario possible.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Oh God, when I picture that little fourth grade boy
sitting there crying in front of the class, Oh, it
is rough this text a different opinion. His parents should
never have allowed him to put that little girl on
the spot. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
Actually that's a great because, I mean, he didn't buy
that stuff himself.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
No, that's a tough one because my son laid it
all on the line. And it was about fourth grade.
It wasn't for Valentine's Day, but it was just a
he had a crush on a girl and he decided
he was going to write her a note about how
much he liked her and everything like that. And he
talked to me about it, and I just, you know,
I told him, you know, you always have to realize
the possibility that she might not like you too, to
(32:51):
try to you know, prepare for what eventually happened. But
I thought, it's just, you know, it's part of the
growing up experience. You're gonna do it at some point.
But he did that and got fairly rejected and other
kids found out about it and it was embarrassing and
he hasn't done it since. And I don't know.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
Yeah, I had a situation when I was in Oh gosh,
my mom's going to correct me on this. I think
it was first grade. We're on Valentine's Day. A kid
in our class gave me a very small picture frame
with his picture in it, and I didn't know, I
didn't know what to do with it, so I, you know,
thank you and took it home and like the next day,
(33:29):
I guess I didn't talk to him at all or whatever.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
And he's gay now. So life is hard. Childhood is
so hard, Adulthood is hard without all this crap.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
It'd be nice if the Hallmark Company or Sees Candy
didn't add to the pretending that all you care about
is love and people coming together and not just you
make a lot more money this time. I'll get to
some more of those texts a little bit later on
that topic. It's just it's rough. We got this text
is kind of funny. Funniest Valentine's Day ad I heard
(34:08):
on the radio the other day was a line of
floral bouquets I haven't heard this, called the how mad
is she? Floral bouquet? And you can choose different kinds.
There's the silent treatment mad, which is daffodils and daisies,
Passive aggressive mad, which is two dozen roses, slam the
door mad, which is a different kind of flowers, peel
out of the driveway mad you never help with housework mad,
(34:32):
and different kinds of different flowers for the different scenario.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
It's nice.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
There you go. It is nice whenever Joe is Gone
or I Am Gone. We almost always bring on Tim
Sanderfer Tim the lawyer who's fan favorite. If you've never
heard him before, stick around because everybody always likes him
and wishes he'd come on more often. He had a
heck of an interesting text today or a tweet rather
that I want to ask him about, among other things.
(34:59):
An hour three fem Misus Say gets podcast Armstrong and
Getty on demand.
Speaker 6 (35:04):
Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 7 (35:07):
Mm hmm
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