Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on NATO leaders heading to US, Elon Musk's "5 Things" deadline

NATO leaders are on their way to the United States this week. 

French President Emmanuel Macron will arrive in Washington tomorrow, followed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 

Meanwhile, Elon Musk's "5 Things" deadline is up tomorrow, leaving federal workers jobs on the line. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold joins the show. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Richard Arnold, morning to you, Hey, Mike. So they're all
coming calling this week. Yeh, the European Alliance NATO. Will
it survive is the question on the table, and if so,
in what shape. America's top two ally since the end
of World War Two headed to Washington in the next
several days. French President mcronarized first tomorrow, then British PM
Starmer during the first Trump term, because mccron hosted Trump

(00:22):
for the big Bastille Day parade and Trump said, oh,
I love these big parades, and then the Bridge invited
the Trump family to Buckingham Pallas. This time parades, parties
not going to be enough. The former French ambassador to Washington,
Sharad Auro, says, Trump knew nothing nobody back then. Now
he's more radical than surrounded by yes men, says the diplomat.
Macrone will tell Trump you can't be weak with Russia's Putin.

(00:44):
It's not in your interest. Still, there is that meme
going around, and then he will have seen it, noting
that Trump has criticized most everyone, including the Pope, but
never Putin, and that is simply a fact. When Starmer
arrives at the end of this week he will try
a different tack with Trump and says Britain will boost
its defense spending to two and a half percent by
a date yet to be announced. Britain says it is
also willing to take part in a peacekeeping force for

(01:05):
Ukraine if there's any peace to keep, but only if
the United States agrees to be a backstop, whatever that
would mean. As Trump has embraced the Russian propaganda, of
course that Ukraine started the war, even though they were
the ones invader, weren't they.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Meantime, Russia launch two hundred and sixty seven drones at
Ukraine overnight, killing at least one person in what was
an unprecedented attack, marking the third anniversary of the Russian invasion.
All right, now, have we finished our emails yet? Do
we know?

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh boy?

Speaker 1 (01:33):
This is well tomorrow justify your job day. Elon Musk
has sent those emails out to thousands of government workers,
saying that by midnight tomorrow they have to list five
bullet points count on reasons why the things you did
last week should keep you on the job. Send a
copy of your response to your boss, who may or
may not bother reridden the thing says Elon Musk, who

(01:54):
waves that chainsaw around at the Conservative conference over the weekend.
More bureaucracy law. However, Trump's new FBI boss, Cash Pttel,
the one with the enemy's list, is selling his staffers
to ignore Elon's job deadline. So what are humble folks
to do here, Mike? The pedagon is going to be

(02:15):
a target this week and already Trump has sacked over
the weekend key military leaders, including the country's top a
military officer of the Head of the Joint Chiefs, General
c Q. Brown, who is black, and Navy Admiral Lisa Franketti,
who is, oh gosh, a woman. The general was a
fighter pilot with one hundred and thirty combat hours. The
Navy admiral is someone who commanded you as carrier strike groups.

(02:37):
They were sacked by the new defense sek Hegsyth, of course,
a blackout drunk who was a weekend Fox News co host. Meantime,
Republican lawmakers are facing some angry voters at town halls
we've been seeing the last couple of days in red
Republican districts. Texas Republican Pete Sessions was asked, when you're
going to rest control back from the executive. The guy
in South Africa is not doing you any good, says

(03:00):
another Republican voter hit by the government layoffs. You're all
freaking pissed off. In Wisconsin, Republican Scott Fitzgerald was pressed
about the job catbacks that they are seeing and will
you stand up to them and say that is enough.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
The end result of the fraud abuse that has been
discovered already.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Tough crowd. Also Republican Grotman, who is Wisconsinite as well.
I think across the board he's done some very good things.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I think he's gotten rid of birthrate citizenship.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
That's what Nancy group there. The Dems also not getting
it past their supporters say they're two week one person
signing civil rights days and activist John Lewis back then.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Lewis put it on he would have gotten arrested that day,
like you.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Man ippad for the barricades, he's saying, so maybe they
could have that on pay per view mic oh boy.
And then we got the consumer confidence over the weekend,
which fell off a cliff of course, and the problems
with the FED and so it goes. Appreciate it. Richard
Arnold is back Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
For more from the mic Asking Breakfast.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
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