Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
To night.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Michael Brown joins me here, the former FEMA director of
talk show host Michael Brown.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Brownie, No, Brownie, You're doing a heck of a job.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Weekend with Michael Brown broadcasting Life from Denver, Colorado.
It's the Weekend with Michael Brown. I'm very happy to
have you joining the program today. If you want to
send a text message, which is the best way to
interact with the program, on your message app, use this
number three three one zero three three three one zero three.
Starts your message with one of two keywords Michael or Mike.
Tell me anything, Ask me anything. And while you're doing that,
(00:30):
go over on your ex app formerly Twitter, and give
me a follow there. It's at Michael Brown USA. At
Michael Brown USA. The fire chief in Los Angeles has
been fired, and I'm I'm not surprised by it because
(00:50):
it shows that one DEI hire in order to cover
her butt i e. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has
to fire another DEI hire in order to get the
first strike him, you know, before people start coming after
her curtsy of the ABC affiliate Eyewitness News Los Angeles fire.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Chief Kristen Crowley. Tonight, the mayor getting a lot of
pushback over this controversial decision.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Eyewitness news reporter Tim Caputo live in downtown LA with
a look at what's next for the fire department.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
Tim and Mark, the mayor and the interim fire chief,
both said they want to look to the future, not
necessarily the past.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
That being said, there is still a.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
Review and investigation underway to figure out what went right
and more specifically, what went wrong in both the preparation
and response to those deadly fires last month.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Either way, that's still going to happen, but now under new.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
Leadership Mayor Karen Bass leaving no doubt who she's blaming
for the city's apparent lack of preparation ahead of the
Palisades fire.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
We all know that a thousand firefighters that could have
been on duty on the morning the fires broke were
instead sent home on Chief Crowley's watch.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
We also know that there was all sorts.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Of fire trucks and apparatus that we're sitting in a
yard because they didn't have enough mechanics, they didn't have
enough money to pay for the repairs, they didn't have
the money for the parts, they didn't have anything. So
I just want you to remember is this communist DEI.
Mayor sits there and blasts that the fire chief told
(02:29):
one thousand firefighters be on a short call basis, and
you know we may need to call you back. The
mayor wants to ignore the underlying problems too.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
The mayor firing Chief Kristin Crowley this morning, saying Crowley
also wouldn't participate in a review over what the fire
department may have done wrong.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
The president of the Fire Commission told her to do
a after action report.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
She refused to do the report.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
City Council Member Monica Rodriguez is upset Crowley is taking
all the blame.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
It's infurior to me that she would be made the
scapegoat in all of this because I've known nothing but
Chief probably to be the consummate professional.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Well often seen side by side.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
It's been a rocky relationship between Chief Crowley and Mayor
Bass in the days and weeks since the fires. Once
the fire chief publicly blamed budget cuts for the department's shortcomings,
acclaimed the mayor disputes, but the firefighters Union believes it
played a role in Crowley's dismissal.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
We're out.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
You may recall that while the fires were going on.
She was interviewed by a reporter who asks, are you
saying that the Mayor's office and the city Council's budget
cuts affected the ability of you to fight these fires effectively?
(03:44):
And she pauses and she says, yes, she knew the
acts was going to come down at some point because
government can't handle the truth. Baged as a union for
someone who's being removed for telling the truth.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
The mayor, who was in Ghana when the fires broke out,
also blame Chief Crowley for not calling to warn her
about the red flag warnings.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I find that absolutely hilarious.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
She knew, she knew before she left for Ghana that
they already had warnings about the Santa Anna wins coming
down out of the northeast and going to start crossing
into La and they are already issued fire alerts. It
already issued the high wind warnings, not watches, high wind warnings.
(04:36):
And the mayor says, yeah, I think I'll go, Nell,
I think I'll go to Ghana. Because what's more important
for Los Angeles, Los Angelinos than for their mayor to
be in Ghana. I mean, I can't think of anything
more important.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Will have a lesser role in the department. She's allowed
to do that. It's not up to her on what
role she gets. That'll be up to the interim fire chief.
We're live in downtown La, Tim Caputo, ABC seven. I
wouldn't knew.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
OK, thank you, stay with by witness new this.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
This is such a quintessentially classic example. It turns out
that it is.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Course I'm looking at credit karma.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
It shows that it really is possible that you can
have a oh, let's say, a a dee hire to
actually get fired, provided that there's another DEI that is
a beneficiary and is desperately looking for a scapegoat. The
Daily Mail points it out this way. Flaving Los Angeles
(05:37):
Mayor Karen Bass brutally fired her female fire chief Friday
as she seeks to pass the buck over wildfires that
ravaged her city. Bass blamed DEI oriented lgbt Q LA
Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley for allegedly sending home a
thousand firefighters instead of keeping them on duty the morning
(05:58):
the devastating fires broke got on January seventh. That wiped
out whole neighborhoods off the map. Bath as you heard,
says Furthermore, A necessary step to an investigation was the
president of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do
an action after action report on the fires, and the
chief refused. These require her removal. But wait a minute.
Speaking of investigations, no results yet from the one that
(06:22):
Bass announced to uncover why she chose to goof around
in Ghana while her city burned. Do you have any
answers to that mayor? I haven't heard any. Do you
remember the mayor getting off the airplane at lax and walking,
you know, and there's a I think it was a
BBC reporter. I'm not sure, but there was some reporter
(06:44):
that was apparently on the plane or somehow made it
onto the jetway and is asked her, do you want
to apologize to the people of Los Angeles for being
gone while these fires are devastating the city?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Do you want to do you want to apologize?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know, any any politician worth their salt would have
just stopped and said, yes, I am devastated by the
harm that has come to my citizens, and I am
back and we're going to get on top of this
and find out what was wrong. It may be a
ballcrap answer, and she may not mean it at all.
But to stand there in silence, looking down at the
(07:16):
floor while a reporter has a microphone literally in your
face and you can't answer the question. Well, I would
say this shows why you shouldn't elected communist like Karen
Bass to be the mayor of America's what second largest city? Yeah,
I don't think so. In other dei fire chief news,
(07:37):
a veteran California fire captain who recently helped to lead
the fight against the devastating wildfires that rage cross southern
California was found dead with multiple stab wounds at her
San Diego home. Now police are seeking her fifty three
year old wife, Yulanda Olzinocht, who's at large. The victim's
name was Rebecca Mraudi. Now, some social media commentators said
(08:00):
that US President Trump had called her a Dei hire
and blamed her for the Los Angeles wildfire. Now, the
wife of this other chief who is now dead from
San Diego, has served time in prison for fatally stabbing
her husband. So at least hiring fire chiefs on the
(08:23):
basis of being lesbian may help keep the news kind
of lively, I guess, But I don't think he does
anything really good. For the citizens. DEI has got to go,
you know, and don't start telling me that it was
a DEI hire that caused a plane to flip in Toronto,
(08:45):
or that it was the Trump firing FAA controllers. DEI is,
in my opinion itself, inherently discriminatory. It is, in my opinion,
inherently racist diversity, equity, inclusion. No, we're a meritocracy as
we should be. So Weekend with Michael Brown. Text any
(09:08):
question or comment to this number three three one zero three,
use the keyword Mike or Michael. Hang type I'll be
right back. Hey, So Weeken with Michael Brown. Glad to
have you with me. I appreciate you tuning in.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
If you.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Would be so inclined, I'd appreciate a follow on x
formerly Twitter. It's at Michael Brown USA, at Michael Brown USA.
And at any time that you you know, day or night,
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zero three three three one zero three and just use
(09:46):
keyword Mike or Michael either one.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
So, speaking of DEI, the.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
President has fired the chairman of the joints Joint Chiefs
of Staff, and I actually think that's a good thing.
I found it fascinating coming in this morning that I
was hearing from a congressman from Texas who was being
interviewed on Fox News about how how bad this was
(10:12):
because it was going to be disruptive to the Department
of Defense. And as I listened to the congressman's reasoning,
I thought, wait a minute, everything that you're describing about
this particular I'll tell you who it is in just
a minute. Everything you're describing about it being disrupting, I
(10:34):
think is exactly the kind of disruption that we need.
You know, one thing that I think unless you've been
inside the belly of the beast, the bureaucracy, whether it's
the Department of Full Land Security like me, or it's
for that matter, even the White House, which can be
very bureaucratic, or the Pentagon probably one of the most
bureaucratic of all organizations that we have at the federal level,
(10:58):
you don't realize how difficult it is to change the culture.
And if you want to change the culture, it goes
back to this idea of Kevin O'Leary saying it, Look,
if you're going to cut twenty percent, cut an additional
five to ten, you know, cut more, cutting deeper. And
the reason for that is this, people that get entrenched
(11:20):
in the bureaucracy get accustomed to doing things their way.
Because one thing that if I can instill in you
and understanding of how the bureaucracy works, it's this. Even
my part of homeland security was relatively small, I had
(11:45):
I had in my headquarters about three thousand people working.
Now I could surge that depending on, you know, how
many disasters were going on around the country or around
the world that I might need to send teams to.
We sent teams into Iran. We were the first American
citizens to go into Iran after the Iranian Revolution back
(12:08):
in the late nineteen seventies early eighties, and send a
team in after the bam Iran earthquake to work with
alongside the Russians, the French, the Germans, the British, all
who had gone in to try to help the Iranians
recover from this horrific earthquake. But back home, I could
(12:31):
surge those three thousand employees to reach upwards of sixty
five one hundred thousand employees, and in the department as
a whole there was one hundred and sixty five thousand
employees and a humongous budget. Well, you have to rely
upon direct reports, and then you have to really burrow
in and get to know what are called program offices,
(12:52):
because these program offices is where the real action takes place. So,
for example, if I had a staff meeting around a
conference table, I might have on a depending on the
kind of staff meaning i'd have, I might have anywhere
from ten to thirty people that are direct reports to me.
(13:14):
So I have to rely on those ten to thirty
people to take my objectives, my strategies, my mission statements,
and then they have to go out into the different
parts of the organization that they represent and then get
them to start implementing that. Those are called program offices. Now,
(13:35):
of course you've got finance offices, You've got you've got
General Counsel's office, you've got all these other kinds of
offices that any corporation would have. You have the same
thing in the government. But the program offices are the
ones where when money gets appropriated for the particular program
or a particular project. The Congress once done, it goes
into these program offices. Well, many of the people that
(13:55):
work in those program offices have worked there for years,
if not decades, and not for their entire lives. In fact,
they'll get their first job there, they'll work their way
all the way up to eventually become a program director,
and then they'll latch onto that program director spot and
they'll stay until they retire. When you are in a
(14:17):
position for that long, you start to believe that you're
answerable to no one, or if you are, in the
case of the Pentagon, if you are a deocht DEI
higher or DEI is one of your main objectives, then
the next thing you know, that's exactly how you're going
to operate. Well, what's happened is the President has chosen
(14:42):
a new leader for the Pentagon, for the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, and his name is Dan Caine, and I
think he's a perfect choice. Now, let's go back to
what I heard on the radio this morning as I
was coming into the studio. Oh my gosh, he's been
retired for several years, he's been out of touch for
(15:06):
several years. He doesn't know what's happening today.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
As I listened to.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
The congressman who is a former member of the military.
I think, in fact, I think this congress may have
been a seal at one time. I'm thinking to myself,
but that's precisely the kind of person I want, who
understands the purpose of war fighting, who has led war fighters.
In fact, he was Trump's person. Here's Trump's point man
(15:35):
in Trump version one point zero that went into Syria
to eliminate isis. So he knows war fighting up close
and personal. And he'll be the new chairman of the
Joint chiefs of Staff. Lieutenant General Dan nicknamed Raisin Raising Kin,
Dan Raising Kan. He's been described as an individual who's
(16:00):
able to take disparate forces, disparate attitudes, and put them
all together under a single operational division, making people operate
as a unit, which is precisely what we need in
the Pentagon. Those who have served with Kane describe him
(16:20):
as possessing an uncanning ability to distill complexity into decisive action.
Will you think about the military. That's an indispensable quality
for guiding the military because we are now in an
era where we have both conventional and unconventional threats where
(16:42):
we will be fighting both conventional and unconventional warfare. His experience,
ranging from a fighter pilot to a senior intelligence liaison
puts him in a unique advantageous position to oversee this
modern battles that we're going to confront.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
In all corners of the world.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
So I think Trump has made the right decision, the
absolute right decision, in firing former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, General C. Q.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Brown Junior.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Why Because it is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff that allow the divisive and destructive DEI policies
to undermine the effectiveness and the unity of the armed forces,
which the unity of the armed forces is precisely what
the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is supposed
(17:38):
to be doing. This is a signal to return to meritocracy,
operational readiness, and a military focused on war fighting instead
of political activism. It's a great change. So weaken with
Michael Brown. Follow me on X at Michael Brown USA.
I'll be right back tonight.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Michael Brown joins me here.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
The former FEMA director of talk show host Michael Brown.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Brownie, No, Brownie, You're doing a heck of a job.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
The Weekend with Michael Brown.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Hey, welcome back to the Weekend with Michael Brown. Glad
to have you with me. Certainly appreciate you tuning in
and listening. Share the program with your friends. Let's keep
building this audience we're doing You guys are doing great
and I appreciate it. Don't forget to follow me on
Exit's at Michael Brown USA. So, a couple of days ago,
the President Trump made heads explode. Well, he claimed that
(18:33):
Baltimore Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, was a dictator without elections,
and then he somehow he implied that Zelensky started the
war with Russia. And you know, the response was, as expected,
Oh my god, can you believe it? Trump didn't it
doesn't know that Russia was the aggressor what an idiot?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
And then the BBC, CNN, all these other news sites
started running little fact checking stories, and then politicians dusted
off their most serious faces to deplore Trump's lies and exaggerations.
The United States hasn't given three hundred and fifty billion
dollars to Ukraine. It was only one hundred and eighty
billion dollars or whatever the figure was. Well, Russia did
(19:16):
invade Ukraine in twenty twenty two. But the question I
would ask you to think about is is that when
the war started? Because I think the story the war
really started in twenty fourteen during the Maiden Protests, when
Russia snatched Crimea from Ukraine. I think that the national
(19:41):
security analyst Mario Loyola is right that the conflict started
much earlier, even than that it started in the aftermath
when the Soviet Union imploded back in nineteen ninety one.
So Mario wrote an essay for the Less from twenty
(20:02):
twenty two and points that the Ukraine and Crimea gradually
and separately became part of Russia beginning in the seventeenth century.
Ukraine came in stages as Poland waned in territory, with
the areas east of the Naiper River firmly in Russian
hands by the time of Peter the Great, while Crimea
(20:23):
was captured from the Ottoman Turks. A great history less
than most Americans just don't understand. But jump forward to
the period right after World War II. The Soviets obviously
wanted to give the impression of the diverse coalition of states,
particularly in order to justify their demand for multiple seats
at the UN. So Ukraine was presented to the world
(20:48):
as a powerful Soviet socialist republic. Then in nineteen fifty four,
Crusia himself a Ukrainian seated territory. As I would say,
nominal control of military forces to Ukraine. But it was
all show, because we know how the Soviets operated, they
(21:09):
actually retained control. In fact, Mario wrote this when those
borders suddenly became real. In nineteen ninety one, amidst the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Kiev found itself in control
of a nuclear arsenal, the Black Sea Fleet, Russia's most
important commercial naval ports in the world, Odessa and Sevestopol,
and tens of millions of Russians. Meanwhile, US diplomats realized
(21:33):
the situation was dangerously untenable and quickly. US diplomats quickly
pressed Kiev to return the nuclear arsenal and the Black
Sea Fleet to Russia. But the adjustments stopped there, leaving
Ukraine with a bigger bite of Russia than they could
safely chew. So was Ukraine ever strong enough to maintain
(21:57):
both its territorial integrity and its political independence. That's the
question that the Professor asks, because history is answered with
a resounding no. Ukraine had no problem controlling the territory
as long as it accepted Moscow's control. But the moment
(22:18):
that Ukraine definitively broke away from Moscow in twenty fourteen,
what happened the minute Ukrainian said nope, independent, We're no
longer going to capitulate to your external control of our country.
The moment that happened, Ukraine lost control of those areas
that were most vital to Russian interests. I don't think
(22:41):
anybody with even minimal sense of Russian and Ukrainian history
can pretend to be taken by surprise. But then that
gets us to this point, and it gets us to
the point today where most of us don't understand the
history of Ukraine and the history of Russia and Ukrainian
in ties their togetherness, and we only look at where
(23:07):
we are today, And where we are today was, Yeah,
despite all that history, I just gave you. Russia parked
thousands of soldiers on the border with the intention of
taking Ukraine back. Someone argue taking it over. I think
(23:29):
that's a debate for historians. Was Vladimir Putin wanting to
take over Ukraine or take back Ukraine. Now, in those
intervening years, say from twenty fourteen, during the Obama administration,
when they took over Crimea, Crimea, and we didn't do anything,
(23:49):
We just let Russia do it. But what happened, what
happened in the meantime, Well, in the meantime, Poland, the Balkans,
most of Eastern Europe woke up and said, oh, we
may end up with the Russians and that the Vladimir
Putin on our borders, and we don't want that. And
(24:12):
I think that is a correct position to take. But
you can't take that position without it and ignore the
history of Ukraine and the old Soviet Union. You've got
to understand that. And you also have to understand that
when Russia took over Crimea, the United States did nothing.
(24:32):
And when the United States did nothing in twenty fourteen,
that emboldened Vladimir Putin to bide his time to wait
through the Trump administration because he knew he couldn't do
it while Trump was in office, and he did it
while Biden was in office. And then Biden steps up
and Biden doesn't say, and I think this is a distinction.
(24:55):
You need to think about. Biden did not say, Hey,
we'll give you everything you need to win. We'll give
you everything you need to repel this Russian aggression. Forget
the history, just for this moment. Biden didn't say any
of that. What did he say, will be with you
as long as it takes. In other words, you're on
(25:17):
your own. You go fight this battle. We don't really
have an interest in it. We'll give you a bunch
of weapons and send you a bunch of money, and
we'll keep you afloat, and we'll keep the country. You
will pay for the pensions, we'll pay for the social
security systems, we'll pay for everything. You just go fight
the battle, and you know, may the best man win.
That was kind of Biden's attitude. NATO, on the other hand,
(25:41):
and in particular Poland, in Germany, France, the United Kingdom,
and obviously that incurt that not incursion, that invasion. I
was starting to use Biden's word. That invasion by Putin
three years ago grew NATO. Suddenly Finland, Finland was like, oh,
(26:03):
here's Putin again being aggressive.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
We went to join NATO.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
So we allowed Finland end and we expanded the border
between NATO countries and the Russian territory by thousands of
miles by letting Finland end. And that's where we are today.
And now Trump is out there trying to bring an
end to the war. And by the things that Trump
(26:32):
has said, you would think that he's on the side
of Vladimir Putin. I don't believe for a second that
he is. I think he's on the side of I
just want to bring this conflict to an end. So
the Vice President J. D. Vance and the Secretary State
Marco Rubio had confirmed that Trump really is very upset
(26:54):
with Zelensky because he lied about the US Ukrainian discussions
will mineral rights. Zelensky claimed that he refused to even
consider reserving mineral and energy exploration rights in Ukraine for
the United States rather than its competitors, so we can
help repay American taxpayers for arming, funding and training his military,
(27:18):
as well as subsidizing the entire Ukrainian government, workers and businesses.
But Vance and Rubio say that Zelensky's characterization of these
discussions is untrue. Rubio has I think turned out to
be one of the I mean, I think they've all
(27:40):
been great appointments, but he's turned out to be what
I would actually consider to be a Trump whisperer. He
gets that we want to help Ukraine win by ending
the war, by negotiating a settlement with Putin, and that
every nobody's gonn have to be at the table. I
(28:03):
want you to listen to let me pull this up.
I want you to listen to Rupio reveals why everybody
in the Trump administration right now it's pissed at Zelensky.
Have you heard this.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Post that President Zelensky is a dictator without elections? What
are you thinking?
Speaker 6 (28:24):
I think President Trump is very upset at President Zelensky
in some case rightfully so. Look Number one, Joe Biden
had frustrations with Zelensky. People shouldn't forget that. There are
newspaper articles out there about how he cursed at him
in a phone call. Because Lensky, instead of saying thank
you for all your help, is immediately out there messaging
what we're not doing or what he's not getting. I
think the second thing is, frankly, I was personally very
(28:47):
upset because we had a conversation with President Zelenski, the
Vice President and I the two three of us, and
we discussed this issue about the mineral rights, and we
explained to them, Look, we want to be a joint
venture with you, not because we're trying to steal from
your country, but because we think that's actually a security
guarantee if where your partners.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
This is so important, so important fact, that's so important.
I want to take a break here so you can
hear this again because I want you to understand why
we think that having a partnership with all of the
cobalt and the rare earth minerals that they have in
Ukraine is a way to ensure Ukrainian security in the future.
(29:23):
I think Trump knows exactly what he's doing. So the
weekend with Michael Brown. Text the word Michael, Michael to
this number three three one zero three, Hang tight, Marco
Rubio next, as always were in the program. I want
to tell everybody how much I appreciate you tuning in.
We keep growing the audience, we keep growing the affiliates,
(29:44):
all thanks to you, and I appreciate it. So spread
the word. Uh and you know one way to do
that is to follow me on x at Michael Brown USA.
So we're a little history lesson in that last segment
about the relationship between the Old's Union modern day Russia
and Ukrainians. And so here we are now three years
(30:06):
later into this war where Vladimir Putin in his mind,
is taking back territory that he thinks belongs to Russia,
trying to reconstitute the old Soviet Union and knowing that hey,
he got by with it once with Barack Obama. I
can't get by with it while Trump's in office, and
(30:26):
I'll try again when Biden's in office, because he knows
what a piece of crap Biden was in terms of
foreign policy. And now we're trying to just settle the war.
We're just trying to stop the fighting. It is World
War one trench warfare. And Trump knows that Zelenski will
(30:49):
have to be a part of any negotiated settlement. He
was invited to Reyod decided not to go. He left
a security conference in Paris early, as did the German
Chanceller and others. But Zelensky is I think this is
just my opinion. I think Zelensky's looking for a way
(31:10):
out because I think he knows that he won't survive
if and when they have another election. So how can
he take whatever money he's stolen? And where can he
find a country where he can go in live in
exile and live the life of a life of Riley. Well, Meanwhile,
while then the cabal is trying to tell you that
(31:30):
Trump is screwing up the negotiations, Rubio sits down with
Catherine Herriage and explains exactly what's going on. And it's
well worth your time to pay close attention to what
he says.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
When President Trump hosts that President Zelensky is a dictator
without elections, what are you thinking.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
I think President Trump is very upset at President Zelensky
in some case, and rightfully so. Look, number one, Joe
Biden had frustrations with Zelensky. People shouldn't forget that their
newspaper articles out there about how he cursed at him
in a phone call, because Lensky, instead of saying thank
you for all your help, is immediately out there messaging
what we're not doing or what he's not getting. I
think the second thing is, frankly, I was personally very
(32:12):
upset because we had a conversation with President Zelenski, the
Vice President and I the two three of us, and
we discussed this issue about the mineral rights, and we
explained to them, look, we want to be at joint
venture with you, not because we're trying to steal from
your country, but because we think that's actually a security guarantee.
If we're your partner in an important economic endeavor, we
get to get paid back some of the money the
(32:33):
taxpayers have given close to two hundred billion dollars. And
it also now we have a vested interest in the
security of Ukraine. And he said, sure, we want to
do this steal. It makes all the sense in the world.
The only thing is I need.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
It makes sense because if we're operating in Ukraine and
we are obtaining what we really do need to make
us less dependent on China are rare earth minerals which
China is sucking out the ground like crazy out of Africa.
This is this is brilliant. This is a brilliant move.
(33:06):
Gives us a vested interest, puts us not boots on
the ground, but it puts workers. It's an economic security agreement.
This say is we're going to help you exploit these
rare earth minerals. That keeps Vladimir Putin behind whatever line
gets negotiated. I just think it's a brilliant.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Move to run it through my legislative process. They have
to approve it. I read two days later that Zelenski's
out there saying I rejected the deal. I told them
no way, that we're not doing that. Well, that's not
what happened in that meeting. So you start to get
upset by somebody. We're trying to help these guys. One
of the points that President made in his messaging iss
not that we don't care about Ukraine. But Ukraine is
on another continent. You know, it doesn't directly impact the
(33:51):
daily lives of Americans. We care about it because it
has implications for our allies and ultimately for the world.
There should be some level of gratitude here about this.
And when you don't see and you see him out
there accusing the president of living in a world of disinformation,
that's highly, very counterproductive. And I don't need to explain
to you or anybody else. Donald Trump's not President Trump's
not the kind of person that's going to sit there
(34:11):
and take that. He's very transparent. He's going to tell
you exactly how he feels. And he sent the message
that he's not going to get gained here. He's willing
to work on peace because he cares about Ukraine, and
he hopes Zelensky will be a partner in that and
not someone who's out there putting this sort of counter
messaging to try to, you know, hustle us in that
regard that that's not going to be productive here, Bam.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So now we have an entirely new perspective about what's
going on. Uh, Zelensky actually is out there lying about it.
Vance said, Zelensky is getting really bad advice, and I
don't know from whom. He's not dealing with Joe Biden
and the Biden administration anymore. He's dealing with Donald Trump
and then Trump administration. The idea that he's going to
(34:55):
litigate his disagreements with the president and the public square.
I mean, you know the president very well. Obviously, I
know the president very well. This is not a good
way to deal with President Trump. He's attacking the only
reason this country exists publicly right now, and it's disgraceful
and it's not something that's going to move the President
of the United States. In fact, it's going to have
(35:16):
the opposite effect or in Vance and you add that
with what Rubio said, and you can see that Trump
is maneuvering, maneuvering because he does want the country to
have economic security, and he also would like to see
(35:36):
American taxpayers get paid back at least some of the
money that we've given Ukraine. And then there's a third point,
and that is the Trump recognizes what I think most
Americans don't know, and that is Europe is literally falling
apart before our very eyes. The Germans are having elections
(35:57):
tomorrow and Sunday. The Chancellor's probably going to lose. Mcron
is pulling at twenty percent. France is going to have
a change. The Labor Party of the United Kingdom is
in shambles. In fact, as I told my local audience
during the week, how many tanks Russia? I mean, how
many tanks the United Kingdom has in its arsenal two day,
(36:22):
seventy seven zero. Everything else has gone to Ukraine. They're
not in a position to fight, so Europe's going to
have to step up. They've lost all their industrial base.
They're going to fix that. So this is more than
just Ukraine. This is all of Europe and Ukraine that
(36:42):
we're negotiating. Thanks for listening, everybody, have a great weekend.
I'll see you next Saturday,
To night.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Michael Brown joins me here, the former FEMA director of
talk show host Michael Brown.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Brownie, No, Brownie, You're doing a heck of a job.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Weekend with Michael Brown broadcasting Life from Denver, Colorado.
It's the Weekend with Michael Brown. I'm very happy to
have you joining the program today. If you want to
send a text message, which is the best way to
interact with the program, on your message app, use this
number three three one zero three three three one zero three.
Starts your message with one of two keywords Michael or Mike.
Tell me anything, Ask me anything. And while you're doing that,
(00:30):
go over on your ex app formerly Twitter, and give
me a follow there. It's at Michael Brown USA. At
Michael Brown USA. The fire chief in Los Angeles has
been fired, and I'm I'm not surprised by it because
(00:50):
it shows that one DEI hire in order to cover
her butt i e. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has
to fire another DEI hire in order to get the
first strike him, you know, before people start coming after
her curtsy of the ABC affiliate Eyewitness News Los Angeles fire.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Chief Kristen Crowley. Tonight, the mayor getting a lot of
pushback over this controversial decision.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Eyewitness news reporter Tim Caputo live in downtown LA with
a look at what's next for the fire department.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
Tim and Mark, the mayor and the interim fire chief,
both said they want to look to the future, not
necessarily the past.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
That being said, there is still a.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
Review and investigation underway to figure out what went right
and more specifically, what went wrong in both the preparation
and response to those deadly fires last month.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Either way, that's still going to happen, but now under new.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
Leadership Mayor Karen Bass leaving no doubt who she's blaming
for the city's apparent lack of preparation ahead of the
Palisades fire.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
We all know that a thousand firefighters that could have
been on duty on the morning the fires broke were
instead sent home on Chief Crowley's watch.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
We also know that there was all sorts.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Of fire trucks and apparatus that we're sitting in a
yard because they didn't have enough mechanics, they didn't have
enough money to pay for the repairs, they didn't have
the money for the parts, they didn't have anything. So
I just want you to remember is this communist DEI.
Mayor sits there and blasts that the fire chief told
(02:29):
one thousand firefighters be on a short call basis, and
you know we may need to call you back. The
mayor wants to ignore the underlying problems too.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
The mayor firing Chief Kristin Crowley this morning, saying Crowley
also wouldn't participate in a review over what the fire
department may have done wrong.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
The president of the Fire Commission told her to do
a after action report.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
She refused to do the report.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
City Council Member Monica Rodriguez is upset Crowley is taking
all the blame.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
It's infurior to me that she would be made the
scapegoat in all of this because I've known nothing but
Chief probably to be the consummate professional.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Well often seen side by side.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
It's been a rocky relationship between Chief Crowley and Mayor
Bass in the days and weeks since the fires. Once
the fire chief publicly blamed budget cuts for the department's shortcomings,
acclaimed the mayor disputes, but the firefighters Union believes it
played a role in Crowley's dismissal.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
We're out.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
You may recall that while the fires were going on.
She was interviewed by a reporter who asks, are you
saying that the Mayor's office and the city Council's budget
cuts affected the ability of you to fight these fires effectively?
(03:44):
And she pauses and she says, yes, she knew the
acts was going to come down at some point because
government can't handle the truth. Baged as a union for
someone who's being removed for telling the truth.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
The mayor, who was in Ghana when the fires broke out,
also blame Chief Crowley for not calling to warn her
about the red flag warnings.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I find that absolutely hilarious.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
She knew, she knew before she left for Ghana that
they already had warnings about the Santa Anna wins coming
down out of the northeast and going to start crossing
into La and they are already issued fire alerts. It
already issued the high wind warnings, not watches, high wind warnings.
(04:36):
And the mayor says, yeah, I think I'll go, Nell,
I think I'll go to Ghana. Because what's more important
for Los Angeles, Los Angelinos than for their mayor to
be in Ghana. I mean, I can't think of anything
more important.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Will have a lesser role in the department. She's allowed
to do that. It's not up to her on what
role she gets. That'll be up to the interim fire chief.
We're live in downtown La, Tim Caputo, ABC seven. I
wouldn't knew.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
OK, thank you, stay with by witness new this.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
This is such a quintessentially classic example. It turns out
that it is.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Course I'm looking at credit karma.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
It shows that it really is possible that you can
have a oh, let's say, a a dee hire to
actually get fired, provided that there's another DEI that is
a beneficiary and is desperately looking for a scapegoat. The
Daily Mail points it out this way. Flaving Los Angeles
(05:37):
Mayor Karen Bass brutally fired her female fire chief Friday
as she seeks to pass the buck over wildfires that
ravaged her city. Bass blamed DEI oriented lgbt Q LA
Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley for allegedly sending home a
thousand firefighters instead of keeping them on duty the morning
(05:58):
the devastating fires broke got on January seventh. That wiped
out whole neighborhoods off the map. Bath as you heard,
says Furthermore, A necessary step to an investigation was the
president of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do
an action after action report on the fires, and the
chief refused. These require her removal. But wait a minute.
Speaking of investigations, no results yet from the one that
(06:22):
Bass announced to uncover why she chose to goof around
in Ghana while her city burned. Do you have any
answers to that mayor? I haven't heard any. Do you
remember the mayor getting off the airplane at lax and walking,
you know, and there's a I think it was a
BBC reporter. I'm not sure, but there was some reporter
(06:44):
that was apparently on the plane or somehow made it
onto the jetway and is asked her, do you want
to apologize to the people of Los Angeles for being
gone while these fires are devastating the city?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Do you want to do you want to apologize?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
You know, any any politician worth their salt would have
just stopped and said, yes, I am devastated by the
harm that has come to my citizens, and I am
back and we're going to get on top of this
and find out what was wrong. It may be a
ballcrap answer, and she may not mean it at all.
But to stand there in silence, looking down at the
(07:16):
floor while a reporter has a microphone literally in your
face and you can't answer the question. Well, I would
say this shows why you shouldn't elected communist like Karen
Bass to be the mayor of America's what second largest city? Yeah,
I don't think so. In other dei fire chief news,
(07:37):
a veteran California fire captain who recently helped to lead
the fight against the devastating wildfires that rage cross southern
California was found dead with multiple stab wounds at her
San Diego home. Now police are seeking her fifty three
year old wife, Yulanda Olzinocht, who's at large. The victim's
name was Rebecca Mraudi. Now, some social media commentators said
(08:00):
that US President Trump had called her a Dei hire
and blamed her for the Los Angeles wildfire. Now, the
wife of this other chief who is now dead from
San Diego, has served time in prison for fatally stabbing
her husband. So at least hiring fire chiefs on the
(08:23):
basis of being lesbian may help keep the news kind
of lively, I guess, But I don't think he does
anything really good. For the citizens. DEI has got to go,
you know, and don't start telling me that it was
a DEI hire that caused a plane to flip in Toronto,
(08:45):
or that it was the Trump firing FAA controllers. DEI is,
in my opinion itself, inherently discriminatory. It is, in my opinion,
inherently racist diversity, equity, inclusion. No, we're a meritocracy as
we should be. So Weekend with Michael Brown. Text any
(09:08):
question or comment to this number three three one zero three,
use the keyword Mike or Michael. Hang type I'll be
right back. Hey, So Weeken with Michael Brown. Glad to
have you with me. I appreciate you tuning in.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
If you.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Would be so inclined, I'd appreciate a follow on x
formerly Twitter. It's at Michael Brown USA, at Michael Brown USA.
And at any time that you you know, day or night,
you're listening to the podcast, you're listening to replay the program,
you want to tell me something, ask me something. The
text line has always opened the numbers three three one
zero three three three one zero three and just use
(09:46):
keyword Mike or Michael either one.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
So, speaking of DEI, the.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
President has fired the chairman of the joints Joint Chiefs
of Staff, and I actually think that's a good thing.
I found it fascinating coming in this morning that I
was hearing from a congressman from Texas who was being
interviewed on Fox News about how how bad this was
(10:12):
because it was going to be disruptive to the Department
of Defense. And as I listened to the congressman's reasoning,
I thought, wait a minute, everything that you're describing about
this particular I'll tell you who it is in just
a minute. Everything you're describing about it being disrupting, I
(10:34):
think is exactly the kind of disruption that we need.
You know, one thing that I think unless you've been
inside the belly of the beast, the bureaucracy, whether it's
the Department of Full Land Security like me, or it's
for that matter, even the White House, which can be
very bureaucratic, or the Pentagon probably one of the most
bureaucratic of all organizations that we have at the federal level,
(10:58):
you don't realize how difficult it is to change the culture.
And if you want to change the culture, it goes
back to this idea of Kevin O'Leary saying it, Look,
if you're going to cut twenty percent, cut an additional
five to ten, you know, cut more, cutting deeper. And
the reason for that is this, people that get entrenched
(11:20):
in the bureaucracy get accustomed to doing things their way.
Because one thing that if I can instill in you
and understanding of how the bureaucracy works, it's this. Even
my part of homeland security was relatively small, I had
(11:45):
I had in my headquarters about three thousand people working.
Now I could surge that depending on, you know, how
many disasters were going on around the country or around
the world that I might need to send teams to.
We sent teams into Iran. We were the first American
citizens to go into Iran after the Iranian Revolution back
(12:08):
in the late nineteen seventies early eighties, and send a
team in after the bam Iran earthquake to work with
alongside the Russians, the French, the Germans, the British, all
who had gone in to try to help the Iranians
recover from this horrific earthquake. But back home, I could
(12:31):
surge those three thousand employees to reach upwards of sixty
five one hundred thousand employees, and in the department as
a whole there was one hundred and sixty five thousand
employees and a humongous budget. Well, you have to rely
upon direct reports, and then you have to really burrow
in and get to know what are called program offices,
(12:52):
because these program offices is where the real action takes place. So,
for example, if I had a staff meeting around a
conference table, I might have on a depending on the
kind of staff meaning i'd have, I might have anywhere
from ten to thirty people that are direct reports to me.
(13:14):
So I have to rely on those ten to thirty
people to take my objectives, my strategies, my mission statements,
and then they have to go out into the different
parts of the organization that they represent and then get
them to start implementing that. Those are called program offices. Now,
(13:35):
of course you've got finance offices, You've got you've got
General Counsel's office, you've got all these other kinds of
offices that any corporation would have. You have the same
thing in the government. But the program offices are the
ones where when money gets appropriated for the particular program
or a particular project. The Congress once done, it goes
into these program offices. Well, many of the people that
(13:55):
work in those program offices have worked there for years,
if not decades, and not for their entire lives. In fact,
they'll get their first job there, they'll work their way
all the way up to eventually become a program director,
and then they'll latch onto that program director spot and
they'll stay until they retire. When you are in a
(14:17):
position for that long, you start to believe that you're
answerable to no one, or if you are, in the
case of the Pentagon, if you are a deocht DEI
higher or DEI is one of your main objectives, then
the next thing you know, that's exactly how you're going
to operate. Well, what's happened is the President has chosen
(14:42):
a new leader for the Pentagon, for the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, and his name is Dan Caine, and I
think he's a perfect choice. Now, let's go back to
what I heard on the radio this morning as I
was coming into the studio. Oh my gosh, he's been
retired for several years, he's been out of touch for
(15:06):
several years. He doesn't know what's happening today.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
As I listened to.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
The congressman who is a former member of the military.
I think, in fact, I think this congress may have
been a seal at one time. I'm thinking to myself,
but that's precisely the kind of person I want, who
understands the purpose of war fighting, who has led war fighters.
In fact, he was Trump's person. Here's Trump's point man
(15:35):
in Trump version one point zero that went into Syria
to eliminate isis. So he knows war fighting up close
and personal. And he'll be the new chairman of the
Joint chiefs of Staff. Lieutenant General Dan nicknamed Raisin Raising Kin,
Dan Raising Kan. He's been described as an individual who's
(16:00):
able to take disparate forces, disparate attitudes, and put them
all together under a single operational division, making people operate
as a unit, which is precisely what we need in
the Pentagon. Those who have served with Kane describe him
(16:20):
as possessing an uncanning ability to distill complexity into decisive action.
Will you think about the military. That's an indispensable quality
for guiding the military because we are now in an
era where we have both conventional and unconventional threats where
(16:42):
we will be fighting both conventional and unconventional warfare. His experience,
ranging from a fighter pilot to a senior intelligence liaison
puts him in a unique advantageous position to oversee this
modern battles that we're going to confront.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
In all corners of the world.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
So I think Trump has made the right decision, the
absolute right decision, in firing former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, General C. Q.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Brown Junior.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Why Because it is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff that allow the divisive and destructive DEI policies
to undermine the effectiveness and the unity of the armed forces,
which the unity of the armed forces is precisely what
the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is supposed
(17:38):
to be doing. This is a signal to return to meritocracy,
operational readiness, and a military focused on war fighting instead
of political activism. It's a great change. So weaken with
Michael Brown. Follow me on X at Michael Brown USA.
I'll be right back tonight.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Michael Brown joins me here.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
The former FEMA director of talk show host Michael Brown.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Brownie, No, Brownie, You're doing a heck of a job.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
The Weekend with Michael Brown.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Hey, welcome back to the Weekend with Michael Brown. Glad
to have you with me. Certainly appreciate you tuning in
and listening. Share the program with your friends. Let's keep
building this audience we're doing You guys are doing great
and I appreciate it. Don't forget to follow me on
Exit's at Michael Brown USA. So, a couple of days ago,
the President Trump made heads explode. Well, he claimed that
(18:33):
Baltimore Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, was a dictator without elections,
and then he somehow he implied that Zelensky started the
war with Russia. And you know, the response was, as expected,
Oh my god, can you believe it? Trump didn't it
doesn't know that Russia was the aggressor what an idiot?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
And then the BBC, CNN, all these other news sites
started running little fact checking stories, and then politicians dusted
off their most serious faces to deplore Trump's lies and exaggerations.
The United States hasn't given three hundred and fifty billion
dollars to Ukraine. It was only one hundred and eighty
billion dollars or whatever the figure was. Well, Russia did
(19:16):
invade Ukraine in twenty twenty two. But the question I
would ask you to think about is is that when
the war started? Because I think the story the war
really started in twenty fourteen during the Maiden Protests, when
Russia snatched Crimea from Ukraine. I think that the national
(19:41):
security analyst Mario Loyola is right that the conflict started
much earlier, even than that it started in the aftermath
when the Soviet Union imploded back in nineteen ninety one.
So Mario wrote an essay for the Less from twenty
(20:02):
twenty two and points that the Ukraine and Crimea gradually
and separately became part of Russia beginning in the seventeenth century.
Ukraine came in stages as Poland waned in territory, with
the areas east of the Naiper River firmly in Russian
hands by the time of Peter the Great, while Crimea
(20:23):
was captured from the Ottoman Turks. A great history less
than most Americans just don't understand. But jump forward to
the period right after World War II. The Soviets obviously
wanted to give the impression of the diverse coalition of states,
particularly in order to justify their demand for multiple seats
at the UN. So Ukraine was presented to the world
(20:48):
as a powerful Soviet socialist republic. Then in nineteen fifty four,
Crusia himself a Ukrainian seated territory. As I would say,
nominal control of military forces to Ukraine. But it was
all show, because we know how the Soviets operated, they
(21:09):
actually retained control. In fact, Mario wrote this when those
borders suddenly became real. In nineteen ninety one, amidst the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Kiev found itself in control
of a nuclear arsenal, the Black Sea Fleet, Russia's most
important commercial naval ports in the world, Odessa and Sevestopol,
and tens of millions of Russians. Meanwhile, US diplomats realized
(21:33):
the situation was dangerously untenable and quickly. US diplomats quickly
pressed Kiev to return the nuclear arsenal and the Black
Sea Fleet to Russia. But the adjustments stopped there, leaving
Ukraine with a bigger bite of Russia than they could
safely chew. So was Ukraine ever strong enough to maintain
(21:57):
both its territorial integrity and its political independence. That's the
question that the Professor asks, because history is answered with
a resounding no. Ukraine had no problem controlling the territory
as long as it accepted Moscow's control. But the moment
(22:18):
that Ukraine definitively broke away from Moscow in twenty fourteen,
what happened the minute Ukrainian said nope, independent, We're no
longer going to capitulate to your external control of our country.
The moment that happened, Ukraine lost control of those areas
that were most vital to Russian interests. I don't think
(22:41):
anybody with even minimal sense of Russian and Ukrainian history
can pretend to be taken by surprise. But then that
gets us to this point, and it gets us to
the point today where most of us don't understand the
history of Ukraine and the history of Russia and Ukrainian
in ties their togetherness, and we only look at where
(23:07):
we are today, And where we are today was, Yeah,
despite all that history, I just gave you. Russia parked
thousands of soldiers on the border with the intention of
taking Ukraine back. Someone argue taking it over. I think
(23:29):
that's a debate for historians. Was Vladimir Putin wanting to
take over Ukraine or take back Ukraine. Now, in those
intervening years, say from twenty fourteen, during the Obama administration,
when they took over Crimea, Crimea, and we didn't do anything,
(23:49):
We just let Russia do it. But what happened, what
happened in the meantime, Well, in the meantime, Poland, the Balkans,
most of Eastern Europe woke up and said, oh, we
may end up with the Russians and that the Vladimir
Putin on our borders, and we don't want that. And
(24:12):
I think that is a correct position to take. But
you can't take that position without it and ignore the
history of Ukraine and the old Soviet Union. You've got
to understand that. And you also have to understand that
when Russia took over Crimea, the United States did nothing.
(24:32):
And when the United States did nothing in twenty fourteen,
that emboldened Vladimir Putin to bide his time to wait
through the Trump administration because he knew he couldn't do
it while Trump was in office, and he did it
while Biden was in office. And then Biden steps up
and Biden doesn't say, and I think this is a distinction.
(24:55):
You need to think about. Biden did not say, Hey,
we'll give you everything you need to win. We'll give
you everything you need to repel this Russian aggression. Forget
the history, just for this moment. Biden didn't say any
of that. What did he say, will be with you
as long as it takes. In other words, you're on
(25:17):
your own. You go fight this battle. We don't really
have an interest in it. We'll give you a bunch
of weapons and send you a bunch of money, and
we'll keep you afloat, and we'll keep the country. You
will pay for the pensions, we'll pay for the social
security systems, we'll pay for everything. You just go fight
the battle, and you know, may the best man win.
That was kind of Biden's attitude. NATO, on the other hand,
(25:41):
and in particular Poland, in Germany, France, the United Kingdom,
and obviously that incurt that not incursion, that invasion. I
was starting to use Biden's word. That invasion by Putin
three years ago grew NATO. Suddenly Finland, Finland was like, oh,
(26:03):
here's Putin again being aggressive.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
We went to join NATO.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
So we allowed Finland end and we expanded the border
between NATO countries and the Russian territory by thousands of
miles by letting Finland end. And that's where we are today.
And now Trump is out there trying to bring an
end to the war. And by the things that Trump
(26:32):
has said, you would think that he's on the side
of Vladimir Putin. I don't believe for a second that
he is. I think he's on the side of I
just want to bring this conflict to an end. So
the Vice President J. D. Vance and the Secretary State
Marco Rubio had confirmed that Trump really is very upset
(26:54):
with Zelensky because he lied about the US Ukrainian discussions
will mineral rights. Zelensky claimed that he refused to even
consider reserving mineral and energy exploration rights in Ukraine for
the United States rather than its competitors, so we can
help repay American taxpayers for arming, funding and training his military,
(27:18):
as well as subsidizing the entire Ukrainian government, workers and businesses.
But Vance and Rubio say that Zelensky's characterization of these
discussions is untrue. Rubio has I think turned out to
be one of the I mean, I think they've all
(27:40):
been great appointments, but he's turned out to be what
I would actually consider to be a Trump whisperer. He
gets that we want to help Ukraine win by ending
the war, by negotiating a settlement with Putin, and that
every nobody's gonn have to be at the table. I
(28:03):
want you to listen to let me pull this up.
I want you to listen to Rupio reveals why everybody
in the Trump administration right now it's pissed at Zelensky.
Have you heard this.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Post that President Zelensky is a dictator without elections? What
are you thinking?
Speaker 6 (28:24):
I think President Trump is very upset at President Zelensky
in some case rightfully so. Look Number one, Joe Biden
had frustrations with Zelensky. People shouldn't forget that. There are
newspaper articles out there about how he cursed at him
in a phone call. Because Lensky, instead of saying thank
you for all your help, is immediately out there messaging
what we're not doing or what he's not getting. I
think the second thing is, frankly, I was personally very
(28:47):
upset because we had a conversation with President Zelenski, the
Vice President and I the two three of us, and
we discussed this issue about the mineral rights, and we
explained to them, Look, we want to be a joint
venture with you, not because we're trying to steal from
your country, but because we think that's actually a security
guarantee if where your partners.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
This is so important, so important fact, that's so important.
I want to take a break here so you can
hear this again because I want you to understand why
we think that having a partnership with all of the
cobalt and the rare earth minerals that they have in
Ukraine is a way to ensure Ukrainian security in the future.
(29:23):
I think Trump knows exactly what he's doing. So the
weekend with Michael Brown. Text the word Michael, Michael to
this number three three one zero three, Hang tight, Marco
Rubio next, as always were in the program. I want
to tell everybody how much I appreciate you tuning in.
We keep growing the audience, we keep growing the affiliates,
(29:44):
all thanks to you, and I appreciate it. So spread
the word. Uh and you know one way to do
that is to follow me on x at Michael Brown USA.
So we're a little history lesson in that last segment
about the relationship between the Old's Union modern day Russia
and Ukrainians. And so here we are now three years
(30:06):
later into this war where Vladimir Putin in his mind,
is taking back territory that he thinks belongs to Russia,
trying to reconstitute the old Soviet Union and knowing that hey,
he got by with it once with Barack Obama. I
can't get by with it while Trump's in office, and
(30:26):
I'll try again when Biden's in office, because he knows
what a piece of crap Biden was in terms of
foreign policy. And now we're trying to just settle the war.
We're just trying to stop the fighting. It is World
War one trench warfare. And Trump knows that Zelenski will
(30:49):
have to be a part of any negotiated settlement. He
was invited to Reyod decided not to go. He left
a security conference in Paris early, as did the German
Chanceller and others. But Zelensky is I think this is
just my opinion. I think Zelensky's looking for a way
(31:10):
out because I think he knows that he won't survive
if and when they have another election. So how can
he take whatever money he's stolen? And where can he
find a country where he can go in live in
exile and live the life of a life of Riley. Well, Meanwhile,
while then the cabal is trying to tell you that
(31:30):
Trump is screwing up the negotiations, Rubio sits down with
Catherine Herriage and explains exactly what's going on. And it's
well worth your time to pay close attention to what
he says.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
When President Trump hosts that President Zelensky is a dictator
without elections, what are you thinking.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
I think President Trump is very upset at President Zelensky
in some case, and rightfully so. Look, number one, Joe
Biden had frustrations with Zelensky. People shouldn't forget that their
newspaper articles out there about how he cursed at him
in a phone call, because Lensky, instead of saying thank
you for all your help, is immediately out there messaging
what we're not doing or what he's not getting. I
think the second thing is, frankly, I was personally very
(32:12):
upset because we had a conversation with President Zelenski, the
Vice President and I the two three of us, and
we discussed this issue about the mineral rights, and we
explained to them, look, we want to be at joint
venture with you, not because we're trying to steal from
your country, but because we think that's actually a security guarantee.
If we're your partner in an important economic endeavor, we
get to get paid back some of the money the
(32:33):
taxpayers have given close to two hundred billion dollars. And
it also now we have a vested interest in the
security of Ukraine. And he said, sure, we want to
do this steal. It makes all the sense in the world.
The only thing is I need.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
It makes sense because if we're operating in Ukraine and
we are obtaining what we really do need to make
us less dependent on China are rare earth minerals which
China is sucking out the ground like crazy out of Africa.
This is this is brilliant. This is a brilliant move.
(33:06):
Gives us a vested interest, puts us not boots on
the ground, but it puts workers. It's an economic security agreement.
This say is we're going to help you exploit these
rare earth minerals. That keeps Vladimir Putin behind whatever line
gets negotiated. I just think it's a brilliant.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Move to run it through my legislative process. They have
to approve it. I read two days later that Zelenski's
out there saying I rejected the deal. I told them
no way, that we're not doing that. Well, that's not
what happened in that meeting. So you start to get
upset by somebody. We're trying to help these guys. One
of the points that President made in his messaging iss
not that we don't care about Ukraine. But Ukraine is
on another continent. You know, it doesn't directly impact the
(33:51):
daily lives of Americans. We care about it because it
has implications for our allies and ultimately for the world.
There should be some level of gratitude here about this.
And when you don't see and you see him out
there accusing the president of living in a world of disinformation,
that's highly, very counterproductive. And I don't need to explain
to you or anybody else. Donald Trump's not President Trump's
not the kind of person that's going to sit there
(34:11):
and take that. He's very transparent. He's going to tell
you exactly how he feels. And he sent the message
that he's not going to get gained here. He's willing
to work on peace because he cares about Ukraine, and
he hopes Zelensky will be a partner in that and
not someone who's out there putting this sort of counter
messaging to try to, you know, hustle us in that
regard that that's not going to be productive here, Bam.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So now we have an entirely new perspective about what's
going on. Uh, Zelensky actually is out there lying about it.
Vance said, Zelensky is getting really bad advice, and I
don't know from whom. He's not dealing with Joe Biden
and the Biden administration anymore. He's dealing with Donald Trump
and then Trump administration. The idea that he's going to
(34:55):
litigate his disagreements with the president and the public square.
I mean, you know the president very well. Obviously, I
know the president very well. This is not a good
way to deal with President Trump. He's attacking the only
reason this country exists publicly right now, and it's disgraceful
and it's not something that's going to move the President
of the United States. In fact, it's going to have
(35:16):
the opposite effect or in Vance and you add that
with what Rubio said, and you can see that Trump
is maneuvering, maneuvering because he does want the country to
have economic security, and he also would like to see
(35:36):
American taxpayers get paid back at least some of the
money that we've given Ukraine. And then there's a third point,
and that is the Trump recognizes what I think most
Americans don't know, and that is Europe is literally falling
apart before our very eyes. The Germans are having elections
(35:57):
tomorrow and Sunday. The Chancellor's probably going to lose. Mcron
is pulling at twenty percent. France is going to have
a change. The Labor Party of the United Kingdom is
in shambles. In fact, as I told my local audience
during the week, how many tanks Russia? I mean, how
many tanks the United Kingdom has in its arsenal two day,
(36:22):
seventy seven zero. Everything else has gone to Ukraine. They're
not in a position to fight, so Europe's going to
have to step up. They've lost all their industrial base.
They're going to fix that. So this is more than
just Ukraine. This is all of Europe and Ukraine that
(36:42):
we're negotiating. Thanks for listening, everybody, have a great weekend.
I'll see you next Saturday,
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