September 12, 2025 • 49 mins
The dividing lines in America have never been more dangerous than when we stop seeing each other as neighbors. In this powerful exploration of our fracturing society, we dive into Virginia's contentious governor race between Abigail Spanberger and Winsome Sears – a microcosm of America's broader political divisions where competence battles culture wars.
We then examine the alarming pattern of military leadership purges under both Trump administrations, where generals and admirals are being dismissed not for incompetence but for speaking truth to power. From Mattis and McMaster to the recent firings of General Charles Brown Jr. and others, these dismissals represent a fundamental shift where loyalty to a person trumps loyalty to the Constitution. When military expertise is sacrificed for political alignment, our national security suffers.
The episode confronts America's epidemic of gun violence, with over 100 school shootings already in 2025. After each tragedy, we witness the same cycle of outrage followed by inaction. Have Americans decided that the blood of their children is an acceptable price for maintaining their perceived safety against perceived enemies? Our fetishization of violence reflects not strength but profound fear.
Most disturbing is our growing indifference to human suffering, exemplified by the murder of Ukrainian refugee Arania Zarazuska on a Charlotte light rail. Bystanders watched without intervening as a young woman who survived war was killed in what should have been a safe haven. This wasn't just a system failure but a moral one – we've erased the category of "neighbor" from our social consciousness.
How do we rebuild a society where we see each other as fellow humans rather than existential threats? It starts with leaving room for others to grow and change, with committing to being our best selves even when it's easier to be our worst. The path forward requires us to reason together, recognizing that we share one planet and nobody is leaving.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Darrell McClain Show.
I'm your host, darrell McClainIndependent media that won't
reinforce tribalism.
We have one planet.
Nobody is leaving.
Let us reason together.
You happen to be joining me forepisode 475.
Coming to you from a brand newlocation.
I have relocated and I amcoming to you from my new house.
(00:21):
Let's get into the show.
Let's start off today's episodewith a show question.
Hi, daryl, I have a showquestion.
Can you give us an update onthe Virginia governor race?
Let us know what you think?
Democrat or Republican?
Why or why not?
Who wins?
All right, so one.
I normally do not predict races,notoriously very difficult to
(00:47):
do, but because the listenersent a question, who is a
longtime Patreon?
I actually think the member hasbeen a Patreon for five years
I'm going to go ahead and getinto the Virginia's governor
race.
So spammy the the details thatI'm gonna have to lay on here,
(01:09):
because the deal is you have one, uh, abigail spanberger on one
side, the former ciacongresswoman, who is trying to
sell herself as competent in atime where competence is treated
like a sort of contraband.
Then we have have Winston Sears, who is our current lieutenant
governor, with a campaign that,basically, is boiled down to
(01:31):
Trumpism, but a lot lighter,almost churchy.
Both women would actually makehistory.
But the question that they'regoing to have to answer in the
Commonwealth is which history doVirginians want on their mantle
?
Spanberger is leading currently, and not just by a whisker.
(01:51):
She's sitting comfortably atabout seven points ahead in most
polls.
So that's not destiny, but it'senough of a cushion that she's
probably sleeping better thanSears these days, and every
analyst who I've listened tothat's worth their salt has
already moved Virginia into thelikely democratic category.
So that phrase in politicalscience code is basically saying
(02:15):
it would take a meteor strikefor the underdog to pull the
salt.
Now Sears has leaned all the wayinto culture wars.
She's not campaigning onelectric bills or schools, et
cetera.
She's not campaigning about theunpaid teachers.
She dug right into the kind ofTrump flag area, picking fights
(02:37):
about transgender policies.
You know, because nothingscreams.
You know, pave your roads likeyelling about what's happening
in the bathrooms.
In the Commonwealth it's thepolitics of grievance that is
very popular to gin up theRepublican base.
But I don't know if theCommonwealth is going to go for
that as far as their governancegoes Now.
(02:59):
Spanberger, for her part, istrying to play the role of the
quote unquote normal.
Van Berger, for her part, istrying to play the role of the
quote unquote normal, that's herwhole brand the CIA analyst.
Steady hand, affordable living,health care, stability.
It is a very boring campaign,but they are banking on the
thought process that boring isexactly what the Virginia voters
(03:21):
want at the moment.
They are betting on the factthat Virginians are tired of a
carnival ride.
Virginia went to Harris in thepresidential race by nearly six
points and Spanberger is bankingon that same coalition.
Suburban moms, young peopleupset about the Trump
administration and people whojust want their leaders to stop
(03:43):
shotting at them on cable news.
Now I will remind you thatVirginia has a weird habit of
swinging against the sittingpresident's party.
It's common, it's almost likeclockwork.
But this time the cycle couldbe broken because when the other
choice is a hard line, trump isdoubling down on division.
(04:03):
Voters are leaning towardsSpanberger as he grown up in the
room energy.
So what's likely is Spanbergerwins.
That's the smart money, butit's politics, and politics is a
sport played by humans messy,unpredictable and often
self-destructive.
A scandal here, a stumble thereor even a bad debate moment
(04:25):
could shake up the entire racein the Commonwealth of Virginia.
But as of right now.
If you were a betting soul, Itell you to lay your chips on
Spanberger.
And I will say this both are aculture, war, chaos.
Virginia might do the samething it always does, which is
(04:49):
pick against the party that isin power, which is currently the
Republican Party, and that isjust what I think may happen in
the race If I was a betting manat this moment.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I would say Virginia is going to do what it normally
does and go against the partythat is in power.
In addition to these NationalGuard deployments and threats,
we're seeing major ICE and CBPdeployments to especially cities
and states run by Democrats.
I know that the Department ofDefense gave immigration
agencies the approval to use aNew Jersey military base to
detain between, I think, 1,000to 3,000 migrants.
I think it would make it thelargest immigrant detention hub
on the East Coast.
(05:32):
And then Newark Mayor RossBaraka was arrested outside an
immigration detention facilityback in May, I believe.
What was your reaction to thisgrowing ICE presence in your
state and DOD signing off on theuse of military assets for
immigration detention operationslike that?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
So, as I mentioned, I'm a Navy veteran.
I now sit on the House ArmedServices Committee and I can
tell you I've been incrediblyopposed to this for so many
reasons, not the least of whichis it's moving resources away
from our troops to support amission that we should not have
on our bases and the militaryshould not be involved in this.
I heard from one militarymember who said I'm about to
(06:13):
deploy and I said to him oh, I'msorry, because I know he has
some young kids, he goes.
I'm kind of relieved because Idon't want to run concentration
camps here at home, Right, Imean, that's horrible.
Concentration camps here athome?
Right, I mean, that's horrible.
And so we're seeing this push toreally undermine a lot of the
rules here.
And it's really chilling to mebecause, as I mentioned with my
(06:34):
background, I watched in Trump'sfirst administration as he
tried to again and again andagain co-opt a private militia
for himself and he tried,initially during the Black Lives
Matter protest, to utilize theUS military, Remember, and he
was always calling generals mygenerals, as if they were solely
(06:57):
serving him, not theConstitution, and constantly
trying to undermine the military.
And I thought it was odd at thetime, because the worst time
for his numbers was when he wasattacking John McCain.
And I thought it was odd at thetime because the worst time for
his numbers was when he wasattacking John McCain.
I thought that was an odd thingto do, but in hindsight I think
he was again and again tryingto undermine the prestige of the
military because it was the oneorganization that people
trusted and that stood againsthim.
And so, if you recall, thetroops got all the way to Fort
(07:20):
Belvoir but they stayed outunder pressure from General
Milley and I think Mark Esperwas sected at the time and
really pushing back.
And so then he had troops allover the mall guarding the
monuments and we didn't know.
They were in camis but they hadno insignia, they had masks on.
It was during COVID and theywouldn't say where they came
(07:41):
from.
They wouldn't answer anyquestions and we think maybe DOC
, Department of Corrections, butit was a little bit unclear.
So again and again trying toco-opt these militias and then
finally, January 6th, hisprivate militia.
So he still had to leave office, I would say unwillingly and
then came back into office andone of the very first things he
(08:02):
does is start to fire admiralsand generals.
He fired CQ Brown, who was thechairman of the Joint Chiefs.
He fired Lisa Frank-Keddie, whowas the chief of naval
operations.
When I said to Pete Hickseth Ithink he did it because he was
black and she was a woman, hedidn't deny it.
I think it's pretty clear, Veryspecifically.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Very specifically, CQ Brown filmed one video about
being a black man in Americaafter Black Lives Matter and I
think that led him to beingfired.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
He fired the head of special ops and part of the
understanding was that that'sbecause he suggested that women,
if they could compete, shouldbe able to be Navy SEALs.
We've had multiple three-staradmirals fired who are women,
and then others across the boardwho express anything.
I've heard from DHS officialsthat there is a loyalty test.
(08:51):
I've heard some people quittingbecause they aren't going to do
a loyalty to Trump instead ofthe Constitution.
So again and again you see himtrying to both weaken the US
military and then strengthen ICE.
And now we're putting moremoney into immigration
enforcement than we are to theUnited States Marine Corps.
(09:11):
And you're seeing thecommercials.
A lot of people around my wayout in New Jersey see them on
the football games.
There's a lot of ICE recruitingcommercials and they're very
aggressive, and so you're seeinghim really try to have this.
I think it's really dangerous,which is why governors need to
really stand in the breach anddemand accountability and
(09:32):
understand who these people areon the streets, and that's why
in Congress I'm on legislationto make sure that you have to
identify yourself, that youcan't go around masked, with no
insignia, unmarked cars and thenon the streets.
I think the courts are wheresome of the battle is, but you
also have to be very carefulwith your own state police force
(09:53):
.
So I was talking to someone whosaid he's a former police
officer.
He said he was just chattingwith one of his friends who's
currently a police officer, whospoke to an ICE agent.
The guy came up to him anddemanded something.
He goes, show me a badge.
I don't know who you are.
And he goes.
I don't have to show you who Iam.
I'm with ICE.
And he said, yeah, you do.
(10:14):
And he goes.
Well, I'm taking you to jail.
And the guy goes well, I'mtaking you to jail and we'll
sort it out there.
But I mean, this is the kind oflawlessness that's going on and
it really, and a lot of ourpolice officers are coming
forward saying this is makingour streets less safe.
Yeah, and this is not ourmission.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Let's get your reaction to another development
on Friday the firing of theDefense Intelligence Agency
Chief Lieutenant General JeffreyCruz, after he oversaw the
initial assessment on the Irannuclear strike.
What do you make of theadministration firing the head
(10:55):
of the Defense IntelligenceAgency, apparently because they
didn't like an intelligenceassessment.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
I don't know the details of this particular case,
jonathan.
As you mentioned, it just tookplace at the end of this week.
There's a maxim in theintelligence community always
about speaking truth to power.
I think that that's what thisadministration any
administration should always askof its intelligence analysts
and indeed its seniorintelligence leaders.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
And very quickly, we'd also just shown on the
screen.
There are 16 general officersthat have been either fired or
reassigned since Trump becamepresident.
Obviously, there's seven ofthem, which we talked about
earlier, are women.
What do you make of this?
It seems like it's been calleda purge in the ranks.
(11:44):
Is this a concern?
Speaker 6 (11:48):
I think it has to be a concern.
Obviously, it's unprecedented.
There's never been anythinglike this.
There have been cases in thepast where individuals who've
gotten crosswise with thepresident or with the secretary
of defense certainly usually ona policy issue in which they
should not have spoken out andindeed were replaced.
But the numbers here obviouslyare much more significant than
(12:11):
that.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
All right, General David Petraeus.
Thank you very much.
Always good to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So the question lingers about why the Trump
administration fired so manymilitary leaders.
And before we get into what isgoing on now, I think we can
look at what happened in thepast.
As a bit of a way to look atthis, we can talk about the
(12:41):
revolving door at the Pentagonduring Trump's administration
the first time.
Now we have to be honest.
The firing of generals is notnew.
From President Truman all theway to Barack Obama, they had
their beefs with military brass.
President Truman famouslysacked General Douglas MacArthur
(13:06):
in the middle of the Korean War, and President Obama relieved
Stanley McChrystal inAfghanistan.
But with President Trump itwasn't just one or two
high-profile clashes.
It actually became a patternand near constant purge and a
(13:28):
reshuffle of commanders,secretaries and defense
officials.
At its core, it comes down to aclash of cultures.
The military runs on hierarchy,the chain of command and
loyalty to the Constitution.
Trump, on the other hand,wanted loyalty to himself In his
(13:51):
orbit.
Questioning his judgment wasground for exile.
This is how you get a strangespectacle of generals people
who've spent 40 years inuniforms, who have stared down
insurgents in Fallujah and theTaliban fighters in a mood being
dismissed like apprentices on areality TV set.
(14:12):
So let's take a roll call.
James Mattis, the Marine, oncenicknamed Mad Dog, mattis served
as Trump's first Secretary ofDefense.
Now, trump loved Mattis untilhe dared to oppose the sudden
withdrawal of US forces in Syriaand then criticized Trump's
(14:34):
handling of NATO Resonationletter out the door.
Hr McMaster, the NationalSecurity Advisor, another
decorated general.
He clashed with Trump overRussia and the Iran deal Gone.
John Kelly, white House Chiefof Staff, another Marine General
, tried to impose discipline ona chaotic White House.
(14:56):
Trump soured on him Out.
And this just wasn'tcabinet-level names.
Trump actually churned throughdefense secretaries and acting
secretaries like he was on somesort of a casting call.
Mark Esper, who replaced Mattis, fell out with the favor when
he opposed using active dutytroops against protesters during
(15:18):
the George Floyd demonstrations.
Trump branded him Yesper forbeing too compliant, then weak.
When he finally said no, out,he went.
Why so many clashes?
Well, there are three mainreasons I would like to get into
.
The first one is policydisagreements.
Trump wanted dramatic gesturespulling out of Syria overnight,
(15:42):
cozying up to Putin or demandingSouth Korea pay billions more
for US troop presence.
Military leaders trained tothink in terms of logistics,
alliances and consequences.
Balk at the impulsive moves.
Second, the loyalty test.
For Trump, loyalty was the coinof the realm.
For Trump, loyalty was the coinof the realm.
(16:03):
The Constitution, treaties,traditions were all negotiable.
What wasn't negotiable waspersonal allegiance.
Leaders who refused to bend theknee eventually got the boot.
Third, the image war.
(16:29):
Trump marketed himself as afriend of the troops, but
military leaders cared lessabout branding and more about
planning.
The friction between optics andoperation was constant.
When generals constrained Trumpin public, when they contracted
him in public, it wasn't just adisagreement.
Him in public, it wasn't just adisagreement, it was a
(16:51):
humiliation in front of his base, and Trump doesn't forgive
humiliation.
Now some listeners might saypresidents are elected and
generals are not elected.
Isn't it the president's rightto hire and fire who he wants?
Isn't it the president's rightto hire and fire who he wants?
Absolutely Civilian control ofthe military has been a bedrock
(17:13):
of the United States for a verylong time.
But when you burn throughleaders at this sort of pace,
you create instability.
The Pentagon spent much ofTrump's four years in a fog of
acting secretaries and interimcommanders.
That made long-term planningnearly impossible.
Allies abroad watched withconfusion and enemies of America
(17:35):
watched with delight.
Even worse, it frayed the bondbetween the military and
civilian leadership.
Many senior officials felt thatthey had to choose between
personal and professionalintegrity and their jobs.
Some resigned quietly.
Others spoke out after leaving.
General Mattis, in a blisteringstatement after the Lafayette
(17:58):
Square incident, accusedPresident Trump of trying to
divide the nation and misuse themilitary as a domestic police
force.
When retired four-star generals,people trained to keep politics
at arm's length, startpublishing op-eds against the
commander-in-chief, you know thetrust has been broken.
The larger lesson is Trumpwasn't the first president to
(18:24):
clash with his generals and hewon't be the last.
But he turned it into apersonal loyalty contest rather
than a professional debate aboutnational security.
And that's where the dangersomewhat lies, because the
military is supposed to servethe Constitution, not
personality in the Oval Office.
When presidents demand absoluteloyalty from generals, it
(18:46):
starts sliding toward the kindof politics where we see In a
more unstable third partyregimes third world regimes, I
meant to say but our armiesbecome, you know, private armies
.
So this is why so many militaryleaders couldn't last under
(19:07):
Trump.
They actually weren't willingto become props and personal
shows.
They had spent their livessaluting the flag and not
individual men.
And when the test came, manychose to keep their honor and
walk away.
In the end, trumpadministration's firing spree of
military leaders, especially inthe first term, like I said,
(19:28):
give us an example of what thesecond term is going to be, and
it's less about the failure ofgenerals and more about the
insecurity of the president, whomistook public service for
personal devotion.
The tragedy in that is theAmericans' national security
apparatus.
The field that protects us allwill turn into another episode
of who's in, who's out in theWhite House drama and history.
(19:51):
If you've already been payingattention to the people who are
writing, it will not rememberthis kindly.
Now, in the secondadministration, the people who
(20:32):
are starting to have been let gosomewhat.
It sounds like just a shortlist.
It would be.
You had General Charles Brown Jr, the chairman of Joint Chiefs
of Staff, who was fired outrightin February of 2025, along with
five other generals andadmirals in what Reuters calls
an unprecedented shakeup ofmilitary leadership, replaced by
retired General Dan Raisin Kane, breaking the tradition by
pulling a retired officer backin service.
Lieutenant General Charles LPlummer, the USAF so the United
States Air Force Judge AdvocateGeneral.
And Lieutenant General Joseph BBerger, the Army Judge Advocate
(20:55):
General.
Both were dismissed abruptly inFebruary 2025 by Defense
Secretary Pete Hexett.
Terminations caught many offguard LtS strikes in Iran
(21:25):
nuclear sites.
General David Alvin, the chiefof staff of the Air Force,
announced an early retirementaround November 2025, midway
through what should have beenhis four-year term, mildly seen
as a part of a sweepingleadership purge.
National Security Advisor MikeWaltz, fired in May 2025 after a
(21:49):
signal chat leak scandal,resigned, per the
administration's statement, tothe UN Ambassador nominee, while
Marco Rubio took over NSAduties, repeating the first term
pattern.
But because Trump has moreskills, more practice, so he's
doing it a lot faster.
Trump ran a purge on what thebase called woke generals and
(22:14):
now once again high-level careerofficials are being removed
because they didn't meet loyaltystandards or distribute
publicly or even quietly, withhis views, politics and, I guess
, the presence that it now hason the intelligence community
(22:39):
and including the militarycouncil, so crushing firings
after its report contracted.
The administration's publicnarrative is especially alarming
.
Intelligence integrity sinkswhen reports are weeded out for
what people suspect is not truebut is just wheeled out for
(23:04):
political convenience.
Legal and institutionalconcerns as well pop up here.
The judge advocates likePlummer and Berger had
stationary terms, you know, andit was a statute, basically and
(23:27):
removing them mid-course raisedserious questions about the
legality of them being replacedanyway, but possibly even a
violation of the Uniform Code ofMilitary Justice protocols.
The overall impact of militaryinstability and experience is
(23:51):
the problem, because they're notjust names of people who have
been fired.
They end up being decades ofinstitutional memory, strategic
thinking and ethics.
Outright Pulling them outabruptly damages the command
structure and underminesalliances and, trust me, allies
(24:13):
definitely notice and theadversaries definitely notice as
well and, I would argue,benefit from the instability.
Replacing Brown with a retiredofficer and bypassing the
unusual highest ranked candidatealso shows signals of a shift
(24:38):
toward loyalty over credentials.
Now what it means for America?
It is obviously arguablecivilian control versus personal
loyalty.
Civilian control is extensional.
But when civilians demandunquestioning loyalty from the
military instead of counsel andprofessionalism, it flips into
(25:00):
control over the military ingeneral, which is dangerous.
It creates erosion of theinstitutional norms.
Fire at midterm silence, resignthe institutional norms.
Fire, midterm silence, resign.
These gestures chip away at thenorm.
It's meant to institute themilitary from political swings,
(25:21):
whereas leadership changeshappen for political optics.
Strategic planning suffers,especially for ongoing global
threats like Iran, china, theUkrainian-Russia conflict, etc.
Etc.
This isn't business as usual.
Trump's second term is doublingdown on the pattern loyalty
(25:45):
tests, loyalty purges andinstitutional, you know, piety,
basically, piety.
Basically the people fired sofar brown, plumber, berger, cruz
, alvin watts they weren'tremoved because they were even
seen to have failed at anything.
(26:05):
They were removed because theydidn't align tightly enough with
political needs of the moment.
What happens when the needs forpolitical alignment trumps
military expertise?
That's not a recipe fornational strength, it's a recipe
for decline and nationalweakness.
(26:32):
So sadly, while we werediscussing what happened the
high-profile assassination ofthe conservative political
activist and commentator CharlieKirk there was another school
shooting, this time in aColorado high school, and the
shooter shot two students beforetaking his own life.
(26:56):
The shooter was a 16-year-oldstudent by the name of Desmond
Holly.
Like I said, he shot andinjured two students before
taking his own life at EvergreenHigh School on Wednesday.
Quote we're looking at a motiveand we don't have one yet, said
(27:20):
Jefferson County Sheriff'sOffice spokesperson, jackie
Kelly.
Sometimes we never actuallyfound out why.
Another quote from Kelly is hewas radicalized by some
extremism network and thedetails of that will be down the
road, and we wanted to give youthat much about, maybe a
(27:43):
mindset for him.
The student and teachers at theschool were amazing.
They did their job, they did itwell and lives were saved
because of the actions they took.
During the lockdown drills,said Kelly, lots of kids ran,
but the ones who didn't were ina lockdown and were being cared
(28:05):
for.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Someday we can get it through the politicians' thick
skulls how terrible it is totell a 12-year-old parents that
their child has been shot.
I hope it would get throughtheir skulls that message, as
well as some of these bullets do.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
An immediate ban on semi-automatic rifles and
high-capacity magazines, and Iwill get the names of any
lawmakers who stand in the wayof that happening, will get the
names of any lawmakers who standin the way of that happening,
and I will invite you to come tomy living room and insist that
you hold Vivian's hand while wedo her dressing changes each
night and she cries the entiretime and you can look her in the
(28:45):
eye while you cleanse herbullet wounds and you can tell
her to her face why you areopposed to keeping her safe, why
a semi-automatic rifle is morevaluable than her life.
I will end by imploring you topray for Sophia's recovery.
Pray as hard as you can andplease, please, keep Fletcher
(29:06):
and Harper's memory alive.
Honor them and remember themfor the amazing kids that they
are, not just now, while thestory is fresh in the headlines,
but in the coming weeks andyears and decades ahead.
Always remember them.
Now more than ever, we need afuture filled with true, one is
(29:33):
too many.
Speaker 7 (29:34):
One death, by the way , true, it is too many.
Violence should never beaccepted, it should never be
tolerated.
But that's for their issue.
In the wake of Sandy Hook andUvalde and Parkland and El Paso
(29:55):
and Lewiston and Aurora andBuffalo and Boulder and
Binghamton and Highland Park andMonterey Park and San
Bernardino and San Jose and SanFrancisco, and the Pulse
nightclub and the ColoradoSprings nightclub and the Little
Rock nightclub and theBorderline Bar in Thousand Oaks
(30:18):
and the Ned Peppers Bar inDayton and the Waffle House in
Nashville and Virginia Tech andUVA and MSU and UCSB and FSU and
NIU and SMC and the SutherlandSprings Church and the Mother
Emanuel Church in Charleston andthe Living Church of God and
(30:38):
the Tree of Life Synagogue andthe Allen Mall and the Westroads
Mall and Fort Hood and LockheedMartin.
And what are we doing?
What are we doing?
By the way, that is a wildlyincomplete list.
We kept it to the last 25 yearsand it's still not everything.
(31:01):
One is too.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Now for some context here.
There have been at least 100school shootings already in 2025
.
In 2025.
So when I was growing up and Iwas in school, it was the
(31:26):
Columbine shooting and that wasa national tragedy and after
that you think it's never goingto happen again.
But that wasn't the case.
It seemed like once that oneshooting happened, pandora's box
(31:47):
had been opened I'll just putit that way and it seems like
since then it has just neverended.
It seems like it has justSkyrocketed just just nonstop.
School shooting after schoolshooting, after school shooting
after school shooting.
I must admit, I gave up hope onthe situation, to be honest,
(32:12):
when I watched as a shooter wentinto a elementary school and
massacred kids and the responsewas the typical it's the wrong
time to talk about gun situationand in my view, of that point
(32:52):
was America, because of what Ibelieve is this hatred of other
citizens inside of America andseeing them as the constant
enemy racist, fascist, bigoted,homophobes, communists,
socialists, etc.
Etc.
That Americans have seemed tohave decided that it is worth
the blood of their children aslong as they can maintain their
perceived safety against theirperceived enemies, whether they
(33:17):
be on the left or on the rightobsession of American people the
(33:38):
wider American populace, Ishould say is not a sign of
strength.
It is a sign of fear, becauseyou perceive that somebody,
somewhere, is going to come andget you.
And the fact of the matter is,because America has a
(34:02):
fetishization with violence,that that will always be true.
Enough to keep arming yourselfto the teeth, there will always
be somebody being killed.
To keep arming yourself to theteeth, there will always be
somebody being killed.
There will always be aslaughter.
(34:23):
Whether with a knife or with agun, there will always be
violence.
And, because of the way thenational media works and the way
the local media works as well,there will always be something
to point to to justify your fear.
(34:47):
I'm not sure it will everhappen in America because of the
fact that Americans, for alarge portion, when you really
get down to the core of people'sthoughts, they do not, and have
(35:07):
not for a long time seenAmericans as opposing
ideological foes.
They don't see the oppositionas we're just going to have a
disagreement about taxes.
They see it as these people areevil.
(35:30):
And you don't negotiate withevil, you try to put evil down,
and as long as that is thepathos of the American populace.
I don't know how we're going toget out of this.
(35:58):
For all intents and purposes,people who know me personally
know for the most part I'm agenial funny person.
People who knew me longer knowI can be just as fiery and
flippant and angry as the nextperson.
I've somewhat made it mybusiness that when I sit and
(36:19):
reflect and talk to my audience,I refuse to be the worst
version of myself, even if it'smy knee-jerk reaction, even if I
know which I do know for a fact.
If I were to say things that Icould say in the most wittiest
and meanest way possible, if Icould sharpen it so much my
(36:44):
words and my rhetoric, so muchfor clicks I'd be rich.
I'd be rich.
But I don't want to have to sitaround when I'm older and look
at the country I'm sitting inand know that my rhetoric helped
(37:06):
cause the degradation of asociety.
Degradation of a society.
I want to be somebody who, eventhough I have very committed and
what I believe arewell-researched and reasoned
positions, I want to be theperson that always leaves room
(37:30):
for other people to catch upwith me.
For other people to catch upwith me, will I debate people
vigorously?
Absolutely.
But I always want to givepeople room to figure it out,
because you don't always haveall the answers and if you
(37:50):
really look at yourself which iswhat people don't want to do to
be existentiallyself-reflective but if you
really do, you can think aboutthe things you believed when you
were 15 that seemed stupid toyou when you turned 20.
And the things you believedwhen you were 20 that were
misplaced and you were notinformed enough when you were 25
(38:12):
, Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
So I try to leave room forpeople to be like that, to
figure it out.
Of course I've been writing,trying to write a lot on
(38:33):
substack, so of course, becauseI was moving and things of that
nature, a lot of things happened, couldn't really do what I
wanted to do, but yet and still,I did see the tragic video of
(39:00):
the young woman on the bus whowas killed and shocked by it,
and I think what shocked me themost was the damage running
(39:22):
towards the person doing theharm.
That I just kind of was stunnedby the fact that, the
indifference that people had,even if you want to have an
argument that well, what werethey supposed to do?
That one person had a knife,but even after the fact, after
(39:45):
the woman stabbed and sittingthere, nobody comes to her aid
nobody.
You don't see people callingfor medical help.
You don't see anybody callingfor medical help.
You don't see anybody renderingany medical assistance.
So, uh, this is um, it was, itwas um, heartbreaking to see,
(40:10):
but uh, you know, when you seeit, you cannot see it.
So, at any rate, I wrote anarticle, or sub-stack, called A
Code of Indifference the Murderof Arania Zarazuska and Our
Moral Crypt.
A Code of Indifference theMurder of Arana Zyruska and Our
(40:37):
Moral Crypt.
The Scene of the Absurd.
A 23-year-old Ukrainian refugeeescaped in the inferno of war
in Kiev, only to find herselfstabbed to death abroad in a
Charlotte light rail Train onAugust 22, 2025.
The attacker, delores Brown Jr,a 34-year-old criminal that led
(41:06):
to this attack.
His record reads like a catalogof warnings he served time,
he'd been diagnosed withschizophrenia, yet he was
roaming free out on cashlessbail.
(41:26):
A refugee, someone whoseconcept of safety Was being
dismantled by bombs andartillery, was murdered in
transit a mundane necessity ofurban life by a man whose
freedom to walk that train carwas facilitated by a justice
(41:47):
system that treats mentalillness and repeat violence like
a minor inconvenience.
You cannot stare this in theface and pretend it's just bad
luck.
This is the society thatinsists on second chances, even
after numerous infractions, evenwhile the vulnerable accumulate
(42:11):
the cost of moral bankruptcy.
Bystanders watched, phonesweren't raised to perform CPR
Awareness didn't translate intoactions.
For precious minutes, the traincar became a stage for passive
complicity.
Only after the trauma unfoldeddid some do something.
(42:35):
What does it say about us that,in a world wired to broadcast
atrocities within seconds, manystill cannot be bothered to
intervene when confronted withone in real time?
Mental health systems, criminaljustice, transit security they
(42:55):
all buckled.
Brown's history should havebeen enough to confide him to
treatment, not train cars.
The Charlotte transit system,contracted security,
understaffed and sidelined,didn't prevent this either.
Understaffed and sidelineddidn't prevent this either.
(43:23):
In Athens, a refugee flees bombs, only to be killed by the bombs
of systemic indifference.
Irania wasn't a statistic.
She was studying English,working at a pizza parlor and
wanted to become a veterinarianassistant, held a degree in art
of restoration and survivedbombings in Kiev.
Our aspirations had been cutshort, not by war, but by a
(43:45):
warped cocktail of mental healthfailure, justice system
incompetence and impotence andpublic apathy.
Picture it A young woman whotraded one nightmare for another
because society couldn't bebothered, either the system or
the people around her.
That's uglier than a war zone.
(44:08):
We, wringing our hands aboutrefugees, talk incessantly about
security, mental health reform,so-called community values here
all those slogans diedalongside her.
If they don't spur us to action, and not the kind of feckless
(44:30):
tweeting that follows the tragicfootage, then they're words
without worth.
It's fitting to close with this.
This isn't just a tragedy, it'sa moral failure.
We sanctimoniously honorfreedom, sacrifice and safety,
(44:52):
then leave people bleeding inthe aisles.
Society didn't just failAryanian, it erased the category
of neighbor.
This isn't just a tragedy, thisis actually the real crime.
(45:14):
Anything less than radicalreform of both institutions and
our public conscience is morebetrayal than justice.
Thank you for tuning in andwe'll see you on the next
episode.
Welcome to the Darrell McClain Show.
I'm your host, darrell McClainIndependent media that won't
reinforce tribalism.
We have one planet.
Nobody is leaving.
Let us reason together.
You happen to be joining me forepisode 475.
Coming to you from a brand newlocation.
I have relocated and I amcoming to you from my new house.
(00:21):
Let's get into the show.
Let's start off today's episodewith a show question.
Hi, daryl, I have a showquestion.
Can you give us an update onthe Virginia governor race?
Let us know what you think?
Democrat or Republican?
Why or why not?
Who wins?
All right, so one.
I normally do not predict races,notoriously very difficult to
(00:47):
do, but because the listenersent a question, who is a
longtime Patreon?
I actually think the member hasbeen a Patreon for five years
I'm going to go ahead and getinto the Virginia's governor
race.
So spammy the the details thatI'm gonna have to lay on here,
(01:09):
because the deal is you have one, uh, abigail spanberger on one
side, the former ciacongresswoman, who is trying to
sell herself as competent in atime where competence is treated
like a sort of contraband.
Then we have have Winston Sears, who is our current lieutenant
governor, with a campaign that,basically, is boiled down to
(01:31):
Trumpism, but a lot lighter,almost churchy.
Both women would actually makehistory.
But the question that they'regoing to have to answer in the
Commonwealth is which history doVirginians want on their mantle
?
Spanberger is leading currently, and not just by a whisker.
(01:51):
She's sitting comfortably atabout seven points ahead in most
polls.
So that's not destiny, but it'senough of a cushion that she's
probably sleeping better thanSears these days, and every
analyst who I've listened tothat's worth their salt has
already moved Virginia into thelikely democratic category.
So that phrase in politicalscience code is basically saying
(02:15):
it would take a meteor strikefor the underdog to pull the
salt.
Now Sears has leaned all the wayinto culture wars.
She's not campaigning onelectric bills or schools, et
cetera.
She's not campaigning about theunpaid teachers.
She dug right into the kind ofTrump flag area, picking fights
(02:37):
about transgender policies.
You know, because nothingscreams.
You know, pave your roads likeyelling about what's happening
in the bathrooms.
In the Commonwealth it's thepolitics of grievance that is
very popular to gin up theRepublican base.
But I don't know if theCommonwealth is going to go for
that as far as their governancegoes Now.
(02:59):
Spanberger, for her part, istrying to play the role of the
quote unquote normal.
Van Berger, for her part, istrying to play the role of the
quote unquote normal, that's herwhole brand the CIA analyst.
Steady hand, affordable living,health care, stability.
It is a very boring campaign,but they are banking on the
thought process that boring isexactly what the Virginia voters
(03:21):
want at the moment.
They are betting on the factthat Virginians are tired of a
carnival ride.
Virginia went to Harris in thepresidential race by nearly six
points and Spanberger is bankingon that same coalition.
Suburban moms, young peopleupset about the Trump
administration and people whojust want their leaders to stop
(03:43):
shotting at them on cable news.
Now I will remind you thatVirginia has a weird habit of
swinging against the sittingpresident's party.
It's common, it's almost likeclockwork.
But this time the cycle couldbe broken because when the other
choice is a hard line, trump isdoubling down on division.
(04:03):
Voters are leaning towardsSpanberger as he grown up in the
room energy.
So what's likely is Spanbergerwins.
That's the smart money, butit's politics, and politics is a
sport played by humans messy,unpredictable and often
self-destructive.
A scandal here, a stumble thereor even a bad debate moment
(04:25):
could shake up the entire racein the Commonwealth of Virginia.
But as of right now.
If you were a betting soul, Itell you to lay your chips on
Spanberger.
And I will say this both are aculture, war, chaos.
Virginia might do the samething it always does, which is
(04:49):
pick against the party that isin power, which is currently the
Republican Party, and that isjust what I think may happen in
the race If I was a betting manat this moment.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I would say Virginia is going to do what it normally
does and go against the partythat is in power.
In addition to these NationalGuard deployments and threats,
we're seeing major ICE and CBPdeployments to especially cities
and states run by Democrats.
I know that the Department ofDefense gave immigration
agencies the approval to use aNew Jersey military base to
detain between, I think, 1,000to 3,000 migrants.
I think it would make it thelargest immigrant detention hub
on the East Coast.
(05:32):
And then Newark Mayor RossBaraka was arrested outside an
immigration detention facilityback in May, I believe.
What was your reaction to thisgrowing ICE presence in your
state and DOD signing off on theuse of military assets for
immigration detention operationslike that?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
So, as I mentioned, I'm a Navy veteran.
I now sit on the House ArmedServices Committee and I can
tell you I've been incrediblyopposed to this for so many
reasons, not the least of whichis it's moving resources away
from our troops to support amission that we should not have
on our bases and the militaryshould not be involved in this.
I heard from one militarymember who said I'm about to
(06:13):
deploy and I said to him oh, I'msorry, because I know he has
some young kids, he goes.
I'm kind of relieved because Idon't want to run concentration
camps here at home, Right, Imean, that's horrible.
Concentration camps here athome?
Right, I mean, that's horrible.
And so we're seeing this push toreally undermine a lot of the
rules here.
And it's really chilling to mebecause, as I mentioned with my
(06:34):
background, I watched in Trump'sfirst administration as he
tried to again and again andagain co-opt a private militia
for himself and he tried,initially during the Black Lives
Matter protest, to utilize theUS military, Remember, and he
was always calling generals mygenerals, as if they were solely
(06:57):
serving him, not theConstitution, and constantly
trying to undermine the military.
And I thought it was odd at thetime, because the worst time
for his numbers was when he wasattacking John McCain.
And I thought it was odd at thetime because the worst time for
his numbers was when he wasattacking John McCain.
I thought that was an odd thingto do, but in hindsight I think
he was again and again tryingto undermine the prestige of the
military because it was the oneorganization that people
trusted and that stood againsthim.
And so, if you recall, thetroops got all the way to Fort
(07:20):
Belvoir but they stayed outunder pressure from General
Milley and I think Mark Esperwas sected at the time and
really pushing back.
And so then he had troops allover the mall guarding the
monuments and we didn't know.
They were in camis but they hadno insignia, they had masks on.
It was during COVID and theywouldn't say where they came
(07:41):
from.
They wouldn't answer anyquestions and we think maybe DOC
, Department of Corrections, butit was a little bit unclear.
So again and again trying toco-opt these militias and then
finally, January 6th, hisprivate militia.
So he still had to leave office, I would say unwillingly and
then came back into office andone of the very first things he
(08:02):
does is start to fire admiralsand generals.
He fired CQ Brown, who was thechairman of the Joint Chiefs.
He fired Lisa Frank-Keddie, whowas the chief of naval
operations.
When I said to Pete Hickseth Ithink he did it because he was
black and she was a woman, hedidn't deny it.
I think it's pretty clear, Veryspecifically.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Very specifically, CQ Brown filmed one video about
being a black man in Americaafter Black Lives Matter and I
think that led him to beingfired.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
He fired the head of special ops and part of the
understanding was that that'sbecause he suggested that women,
if they could compete, shouldbe able to be Navy SEALs.
We've had multiple three-staradmirals fired who are women,
and then others across the boardwho express anything.
I've heard from DHS officialsthat there is a loyalty test.
(08:51):
I've heard some people quittingbecause they aren't going to do
a loyalty to Trump instead ofthe Constitution.
So again and again you see himtrying to both weaken the US
military and then strengthen ICE.
And now we're putting moremoney into immigration
enforcement than we are to theUnited States Marine Corps.
(09:11):
And you're seeing thecommercials.
A lot of people around my wayout in New Jersey see them on
the football games.
There's a lot of ICE recruitingcommercials and they're very
aggressive, and so you're seeinghim really try to have this.
I think it's really dangerous,which is why governors need to
really stand in the breach anddemand accountability and
(09:32):
understand who these people areon the streets, and that's why
in Congress I'm on legislationto make sure that you have to
identify yourself, that youcan't go around masked, with no
insignia, unmarked cars and thenon the streets.
I think the courts are wheresome of the battle is, but you
also have to be very carefulwith your own state police force
(09:53):
.
So I was talking to someone whosaid he's a former police
officer.
He said he was just chattingwith one of his friends who's
currently a police officer, whospoke to an ICE agent.
The guy came up to him anddemanded something.
He goes, show me a badge.
I don't know who you are.
And he goes.
I don't have to show you who Iam.
I'm with ICE.
And he said, yeah, you do.
(10:14):
And he goes.
Well, I'm taking you to jail.
And the guy goes well, I'mtaking you to jail and we'll
sort it out there.
But I mean, this is the kind oflawlessness that's going on and
it really, and a lot of ourpolice officers are coming
forward saying this is makingour streets less safe.
Yeah, and this is not ourmission.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Let's get your reaction to another development
on Friday the firing of theDefense Intelligence Agency
Chief Lieutenant General JeffreyCruz, after he oversaw the
initial assessment on the Irannuclear strike.
What do you make of theadministration firing the head
(10:55):
of the Defense IntelligenceAgency, apparently because they
didn't like an intelligenceassessment.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
I don't know the details of this particular case,
jonathan.
As you mentioned, it just tookplace at the end of this week.
There's a maxim in theintelligence community always
about speaking truth to power.
I think that that's what thisadministration any
administration should always askof its intelligence analysts
and indeed its seniorintelligence leaders.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
And very quickly, we'd also just shown on the
screen.
There are 16 general officersthat have been either fired or
reassigned since Trump becamepresident.
Obviously, there's seven ofthem, which we talked about
earlier, are women.
What do you make of this?
It seems like it's been calleda purge in the ranks.
(11:44):
Is this a concern?
Speaker 6 (11:48):
I think it has to be a concern.
Obviously, it's unprecedented.
There's never been anythinglike this.
There have been cases in thepast where individuals who've
gotten crosswise with thepresident or with the secretary
of defense certainly usually ona policy issue in which they
should not have spoken out andindeed were replaced.
But the numbers here obviouslyare much more significant than
(12:11):
that.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
All right, General David Petraeus.
Thank you very much.
Always good to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So the question lingers about why the Trump
administration fired so manymilitary leaders.
And before we get into what isgoing on now, I think we can
look at what happened in thepast.
As a bit of a way to look atthis, we can talk about the
(12:41):
revolving door at the Pentagonduring Trump's administration
the first time.
Now we have to be honest.
The firing of generals is notnew.
From President Truman all theway to Barack Obama, they had
their beefs with military brass.
President Truman famouslysacked General Douglas MacArthur
(13:06):
in the middle of the Korean War, and President Obama relieved
Stanley McChrystal inAfghanistan.
But with President Trump itwasn't just one or two
high-profile clashes.
It actually became a patternand near constant purge and a
(13:28):
reshuffle of commanders,secretaries and defense
officials.
At its core, it comes down to aclash of cultures.
The military runs on hierarchy,the chain of command and
loyalty to the Constitution.
Trump, on the other hand,wanted loyalty to himself In his
(13:51):
orbit.
Questioning his judgment wasground for exile.
This is how you get a strangespectacle of generals people
who've spent 40 years inuniforms, who have stared down
insurgents in Fallujah and theTaliban fighters in a mood being
dismissed like apprentices on areality TV set.
(14:12):
So let's take a roll call.
James Mattis, the Marine, oncenicknamed Mad Dog, mattis served
as Trump's first Secretary ofDefense.
Now, trump loved Mattis untilhe dared to oppose the sudden
withdrawal of US forces in Syriaand then criticized Trump's
(14:34):
handling of NATO Resonationletter out the door.
Hr McMaster, the NationalSecurity Advisor, another
decorated general.
He clashed with Trump overRussia and the Iran deal Gone.
John Kelly, white House Chiefof Staff, another Marine General
, tried to impose discipline ona chaotic White House.
(14:56):
Trump soured on him Out.
And this just wasn'tcabinet-level names.
Trump actually churned throughdefense secretaries and acting
secretaries like he was on somesort of a casting call.
Mark Esper, who replaced Mattis, fell out with the favor when
he opposed using active dutytroops against protesters during
(15:18):
the George Floyd demonstrations.
Trump branded him Yesper forbeing too compliant, then weak.
When he finally said no, out,he went.
Why so many clashes?
Well, there are three mainreasons I would like to get into
.
The first one is policydisagreements.
Trump wanted dramatic gesturespulling out of Syria overnight,
(15:42):
cozying up to Putin or demandingSouth Korea pay billions more
for US troop presence.
Military leaders trained tothink in terms of logistics,
alliances and consequences.
Balk at the impulsive moves.
Second, the loyalty test.
For Trump, loyalty was the coinof the realm.
For Trump, loyalty was the coinof the realm.
(16:03):
The Constitution, treaties,traditions were all negotiable.
What wasn't negotiable waspersonal allegiance.
Leaders who refused to bend theknee eventually got the boot.
Third, the image war.
(16:29):
Trump marketed himself as afriend of the troops, but
military leaders cared lessabout branding and more about
planning.
The friction between optics andoperation was constant.
When generals constrained Trumpin public, when they contracted
him in public, it wasn't just adisagreement.
Him in public, it wasn't just adisagreement, it was a
(16:51):
humiliation in front of his base, and Trump doesn't forgive
humiliation.
Now some listeners might saypresidents are elected and
generals are not elected.
Isn't it the president's rightto hire and fire who he wants?
Isn't it the president's rightto hire and fire who he wants?
Absolutely Civilian control ofthe military has been a bedrock
(17:13):
of the United States for a verylong time.
But when you burn throughleaders at this sort of pace,
you create instability.
The Pentagon spent much ofTrump's four years in a fog of
acting secretaries and interimcommanders.
That made long-term planningnearly impossible.
Allies abroad watched withconfusion and enemies of America
(17:35):
watched with delight.
Even worse, it frayed the bondbetween the military and
civilian leadership.
Many senior officials felt thatthey had to choose between
personal and professionalintegrity and their jobs.
Some resigned quietly.
Others spoke out after leaving.
General Mattis, in a blisteringstatement after the Lafayette
(17:58):
Square incident, accusedPresident Trump of trying to
divide the nation and misuse themilitary as a domestic police
force.
When retired four-star generals,people trained to keep politics
at arm's length, startpublishing op-eds against the
commander-in-chief, you know thetrust has been broken.
The larger lesson is Trumpwasn't the first president to
(18:24):
clash with his generals and hewon't be the last.
But he turned it into apersonal loyalty contest rather
than a professional debate aboutnational security.
And that's where the dangersomewhat lies, because the
military is supposed to servethe Constitution, not
personality in the Oval Office.
When presidents demand absoluteloyalty from generals, it
(18:46):
starts sliding toward the kindof politics where we see In a
more unstable third partyregimes third world regimes, I
meant to say but our armiesbecome, you know, private armies
.
So this is why so many militaryleaders couldn't last under
(19:07):
Trump.
They actually weren't willingto become props and personal
shows.
They had spent their livessaluting the flag and not
individual men.
And when the test came, manychose to keep their honor and
walk away.
In the end, trumpadministration's firing spree of
military leaders, especially inthe first term, like I said,
(19:28):
give us an example of what thesecond term is going to be, and
it's less about the failure ofgenerals and more about the
insecurity of the president, whomistook public service for
personal devotion.
The tragedy in that is theAmericans' national security
apparatus.
The field that protects us allwill turn into another episode
of who's in, who's out in theWhite House drama and history.
(19:51):
If you've already been payingattention to the people who are
writing, it will not rememberthis kindly.
Now, in the secondadministration, the people who
(20:32):
are starting to have been let gosomewhat.
It sounds like just a shortlist.
It would be.
You had General Charles Brown Jr, the chairman of Joint Chiefs
of Staff, who was fired outrightin February of 2025, along with
five other generals andadmirals in what Reuters calls
an unprecedented shakeup ofmilitary leadership, replaced by
retired General Dan Raisin Kane, breaking the tradition by
pulling a retired officer backin service.
Lieutenant General Charles LPlummer, the USAF so the United
States Air Force Judge AdvocateGeneral.
And Lieutenant General Joseph BBerger, the Army Judge Advocate
(20:55):
General.
Both were dismissed abruptly inFebruary 2025 by Defense
Secretary Pete Hexett.
Terminations caught many offguard LtS strikes in Iran
(21:25):
nuclear sites.
General David Alvin, the chiefof staff of the Air Force,
announced an early retirementaround November 2025, midway
through what should have beenhis four-year term, mildly seen
as a part of a sweepingleadership purge.
National Security Advisor MikeWaltz, fired in May 2025 after a
(21:49):
signal chat leak scandal,resigned, per the
administration's statement, tothe UN Ambassador nominee, while
Marco Rubio took over NSAduties, repeating the first term
pattern.
But because Trump has moreskills, more practice, so he's
doing it a lot faster.
Trump ran a purge on what thebase called woke generals and
(22:14):
now once again high-level careerofficials are being removed
because they didn't meet loyaltystandards or distribute
publicly or even quietly, withhis views, politics and, I guess
, the presence that it now hason the intelligence community
(22:39):
and including the militarycouncil, so crushing firings
after its report contracted.
The administration's publicnarrative is especially alarming
.
Intelligence integrity sinkswhen reports are weeded out for
what people suspect is not truebut is just wheeled out for
(23:04):
political convenience.
Legal and institutionalconcerns as well pop up here.
The judge advocates likePlummer and Berger had
stationary terms, you know, andit was a statute, basically and
(23:27):
removing them mid-course raisedserious questions about the
legality of them being replacedanyway, but possibly even a
violation of the Uniform Code ofMilitary Justice protocols.
The overall impact of militaryinstability and experience is
(23:51):
the problem, because they're notjust names of people who have
been fired.
They end up being decades ofinstitutional memory, strategic
thinking and ethics.
Outright Pulling them outabruptly damages the command
structure and underminesalliances and, trust me, allies
(24:13):
definitely notice and theadversaries definitely notice as
well and, I would argue,benefit from the instability.
Replacing Brown with a retiredofficer and bypassing the
unusual highest ranked candidatealso shows signals of a shift
(24:38):
toward loyalty over credentials.
Now what it means for America?
It is obviously arguablecivilian control versus personal
loyalty.
Civilian control is extensional.
But when civilians demandunquestioning loyalty from the
military instead of counsel andprofessionalism, it flips into
(25:00):
control over the military ingeneral, which is dangerous.
It creates erosion of theinstitutional norms.
Fire at midterm silence, resignthe institutional norms.
Fire, midterm silence, resign.
These gestures chip away at thenorm.
It's meant to institute themilitary from political swings,
(25:21):
whereas leadership changeshappen for political optics.
Strategic planning suffers,especially for ongoing global
threats like Iran, china, theUkrainian-Russia conflict, etc.
Etc.
This isn't business as usual.
Trump's second term is doublingdown on the pattern loyalty
(25:45):
tests, loyalty purges andinstitutional, you know, piety,
basically, piety.
Basically the people fired sofar brown, plumber, berger, cruz
, alvin watts they weren'tremoved because they were even
seen to have failed at anything.
(26:05):
They were removed because theydidn't align tightly enough with
political needs of the moment.
What happens when the needs forpolitical alignment trumps
military expertise?
That's not a recipe fornational strength, it's a recipe
for decline and nationalweakness.
(26:32):
So sadly, while we werediscussing what happened the
high-profile assassination ofthe conservative political
activist and commentator CharlieKirk there was another school
shooting, this time in aColorado high school, and the
shooter shot two students beforetaking his own life.
(26:56):
The shooter was a 16-year-oldstudent by the name of Desmond
Holly.
Like I said, he shot andinjured two students before
taking his own life at EvergreenHigh School on Wednesday.
Quote we're looking at a motiveand we don't have one yet, said
(27:20):
Jefferson County Sheriff'sOffice spokesperson, jackie
Kelly.
Sometimes we never actuallyfound out why.
Another quote from Kelly is hewas radicalized by some
extremism network and thedetails of that will be down the
road, and we wanted to give youthat much about, maybe a
(27:43):
mindset for him.
The student and teachers at theschool were amazing.
They did their job, they did itwell and lives were saved
because of the actions they took.
During the lockdown drills,said Kelly, lots of kids ran,
but the ones who didn't were ina lockdown and were being cared
(28:05):
for.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Someday we can get it through the politicians' thick
skulls how terrible it is totell a 12-year-old parents that
their child has been shot.
I hope it would get throughtheir skulls that message, as
well as some of these bullets do.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
An immediate ban on semi-automatic rifles and
high-capacity magazines, and Iwill get the names of any
lawmakers who stand in the wayof that happening, will get the
names of any lawmakers who standin the way of that happening,
and I will invite you to come tomy living room and insist that
you hold Vivian's hand while wedo her dressing changes each
night and she cries the entiretime and you can look her in the
(28:45):
eye while you cleanse herbullet wounds and you can tell
her to her face why you areopposed to keeping her safe, why
a semi-automatic rifle is morevaluable than her life.
I will end by imploring you topray for Sophia's recovery.
Pray as hard as you can andplease, please, keep Fletcher
(29:06):
and Harper's memory alive.
Honor them and remember themfor the amazing kids that they
are, not just now, while thestory is fresh in the headlines,
but in the coming weeks andyears and decades ahead.
Always remember them.
Now more than ever, we need afuture filled with true, one is
(29:33):
too many.
Speaker 7 (29:34):
One death, by the way , true, it is too many.
Violence should never beaccepted, it should never be
tolerated.
But that's for their issue.
In the wake of Sandy Hook andUvalde and Parkland and El Paso
(29:55):
and Lewiston and Aurora andBuffalo and Boulder and
Binghamton and Highland Park andMonterey Park and San
Bernardino and San Jose and SanFrancisco, and the Pulse
nightclub and the ColoradoSprings nightclub and the Little
Rock nightclub and theBorderline Bar in Thousand Oaks
(30:18):
and the Ned Peppers Bar inDayton and the Waffle House in
Nashville and Virginia Tech andUVA and MSU and UCSB and FSU and
NIU and SMC and the SutherlandSprings Church and the Mother
Emanuel Church in Charleston andthe Living Church of God and
(30:38):
the Tree of Life Synagogue andthe Allen Mall and the Westroads
Mall and Fort Hood and LockheedMartin.
And what are we doing?
What are we doing?
By the way, that is a wildlyincomplete list.
We kept it to the last 25 yearsand it's still not everything.
(31:01):
One is too.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Now for some context here.
There have been at least 100school shootings already in 2025
.
In 2025.
So when I was growing up and Iwas in school, it was the
(31:26):
Columbine shooting and that wasa national tragedy and after
that you think it's never goingto happen again.
But that wasn't the case.
It seemed like once that oneshooting happened, pandora's box
(31:47):
had been opened I'll just putit that way and it seems like
since then it has just neverended.
It seems like it has justSkyrocketed just just nonstop.
School shooting after schoolshooting, after school shooting
after school shooting.
I must admit, I gave up hope onthe situation, to be honest,
(32:12):
when I watched as a shooter wentinto a elementary school and
massacred kids and the responsewas the typical it's the wrong
time to talk about gun situationand in my view, of that point
(32:52):
was America, because of what Ibelieve is this hatred of other
citizens inside of America andseeing them as the constant
enemy racist, fascist, bigoted,homophobes, communists,
socialists, etc.
Etc.
That Americans have seemed tohave decided that it is worth
the blood of their children aslong as they can maintain their
perceived safety against theirperceived enemies, whether they
(33:17):
be on the left or on the rightobsession of American people the
(33:38):
wider American populace, Ishould say is not a sign of
strength.
It is a sign of fear, becauseyou perceive that somebody,
somewhere, is going to come andget you.
And the fact of the matter is,because America has a
(34:02):
fetishization with violence,that that will always be true.
Enough to keep arming yourselfto the teeth, there will always
be somebody being killed.
To keep arming yourself to theteeth, there will always be
somebody being killed.
There will always be aslaughter.
(34:23):
Whether with a knife or with agun, there will always be
violence.
And, because of the way thenational media works and the way
the local media works as well,there will always be something
to point to to justify your fear.
(34:47):
I'm not sure it will everhappen in America because of the
fact that Americans, for alarge portion, when you really
get down to the core of people'sthoughts, they do not, and have
(35:07):
not for a long time seenAmericans as opposing
ideological foes.
They don't see the oppositionas we're just going to have a
disagreement about taxes.
They see it as these people areevil.
(35:30):
And you don't negotiate withevil, you try to put evil down,
and as long as that is thepathos of the American populace.
I don't know how we're going toget out of this.
(35:58):
For all intents and purposes,people who know me personally
know for the most part I'm agenial funny person.
People who knew me longer knowI can be just as fiery and
flippant and angry as the nextperson.
I've somewhat made it mybusiness that when I sit and
(36:19):
reflect and talk to my audience,I refuse to be the worst
version of myself, even if it'smy knee-jerk reaction, even if I
know which I do know for a fact.
If I were to say things that Icould say in the most wittiest
and meanest way possible, if Icould sharpen it so much my
(36:44):
words and my rhetoric, so muchfor clicks I'd be rich.
I'd be rich.
But I don't want to have to sitaround when I'm older and look
at the country I'm sitting inand know that my rhetoric helped
(37:06):
cause the degradation of asociety.
Degradation of a society.
I want to be somebody who, eventhough I have very committed and
what I believe arewell-researched and reasoned
positions, I want to be theperson that always leaves room
(37:30):
for other people to catch upwith me.
For other people to catch upwith me, will I debate people
vigorously?
Absolutely.
But I always want to givepeople room to figure it out,
because you don't always haveall the answers and if you
(37:50):
really look at yourself which iswhat people don't want to do to
be existentiallyself-reflective but if you
really do, you can think aboutthe things you believed when you
were 15 that seemed stupid toyou when you turned 20.
And the things you believedwhen you were 20 that were
misplaced and you were notinformed enough when you were 25
(38:12):
, Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
So I try to leave room forpeople to be like that, to
figure it out.
Of course I've been writing,trying to write a lot on
(38:33):
substack, so of course, becauseI was moving and things of that
nature, a lot of things happened, couldn't really do what I
wanted to do, but yet and still,I did see the tragic video of
(39:00):
the young woman on the bus whowas killed and shocked by it,
and I think what shocked me themost was the damage running
(39:22):
towards the person doing theharm.
That I just kind of was stunnedby the fact that, the
indifference that people had,even if you want to have an
argument that well, what werethey supposed to do?
That one person had a knife,but even after the fact, after
(39:45):
the woman stabbed and sittingthere, nobody comes to her aid
nobody.
You don't see people callingfor medical help.
You don't see anybody callingfor medical help.
You don't see anybody renderingany medical assistance.
So, uh, this is um, it was, itwas um, heartbreaking to see,
(40:10):
but uh, you know, when you seeit, you cannot see it.
So, at any rate, I wrote anarticle, or sub-stack, called A
Code of Indifference the Murderof Arania Zarazuska and Our
Moral Crypt.
A Code of Indifference theMurder of Arana Zyruska and Our
(40:37):
Moral Crypt.
The Scene of the Absurd.
A 23-year-old Ukrainian refugeeescaped in the inferno of war
in Kiev, only to find herselfstabbed to death abroad in a
Charlotte light rail Train onAugust 22, 2025.
The attacker, delores Brown Jr,a 34-year-old criminal that led
(41:06):
to this attack.
His record reads like a catalogof warnings he served time,
he'd been diagnosed withschizophrenia, yet he was
roaming free out on cashlessbail.
(41:26):
A refugee, someone whoseconcept of safety Was being
dismantled by bombs andartillery, was murdered in
transit a mundane necessity ofurban life by a man whose
freedom to walk that train carwas facilitated by a justice
(41:47):
system that treats mentalillness and repeat violence like
a minor inconvenience.
You cannot stare this in theface and pretend it's just bad
luck.
This is the society thatinsists on second chances, even
after numerous infractions, evenwhile the vulnerable accumulate
(42:11):
the cost of moral bankruptcy.
Bystanders watched, phonesweren't raised to perform CPR
Awareness didn't translate intoactions.
For precious minutes, the traincar became a stage for passive
complicity.
Only after the trauma unfoldeddid some do something.
(42:35):
What does it say about us that,in a world wired to broadcast
atrocities within seconds, manystill cannot be bothered to
intervene when confronted withone in real time?
Mental health systems, criminaljustice, transit security they
(42:55):
all buckled.
Brown's history should havebeen enough to confide him to
treatment, not train cars.
The Charlotte transit system,contracted security,
understaffed and sidelined,didn't prevent this either.
Understaffed and sidelineddidn't prevent this either.
(43:23):
In Athens, a refugee flees bombs, only to be killed by the bombs
of systemic indifference.
Irania wasn't a statistic.
She was studying English,working at a pizza parlor and
wanted to become a veterinarianassistant, held a degree in art
of restoration and survivedbombings in Kiev.
Our aspirations had been cutshort, not by war, but by a
(43:45):
warped cocktail of mental healthfailure, justice system
incompetence and impotence andpublic apathy.
Picture it A young woman whotraded one nightmare for another
because society couldn't bebothered, either the system or
the people around her.
That's uglier than a war zone.
(44:08):
We, wringing our hands aboutrefugees, talk incessantly about
security, mental health reform,so-called community values here
all those slogans diedalongside her.
If they don't spur us to action, and not the kind of feckless
(44:30):
tweeting that follows the tragicfootage, then they're words
without worth.
It's fitting to close with this.
This isn't just a tragedy, it'sa moral failure.
We sanctimoniously honorfreedom, sacrifice and safety,
(44:52):
then leave people bleeding inthe aisles.
Society didn't just failAryanian, it erased the category
of neighbor.
This isn't just a tragedy, thisis actually the real crime.
(45:14):
Anything less than radicalreform of both institutions and
our public conscience is morebetrayal than justice.
Thank you for tuning in andwe'll see you on the next
episode.
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