Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Not what I told you we were going to do,
but something I'm glad we're going to do. My friend
Leland Venter joins us.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
He hosts on Balance on News Nation on weekdays five
pm Mountain Time, and it's my favorite show on cable news,
and it's our first time we get a chance to
talk after the election.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
So it's good to see Leland.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Always good to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
If what surprised you the most about the election, and
then we'll do more forward looking stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
But what surprised you the most?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
McCormick winning the Senate in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Interesting that Bob Casey hasn't conceded yet, do you is
there any chance that McCormick will not end up being
the winner?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Based on what you're seeing, I think.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
What's most interesting in that sense, and I'm glad you
picked up on it is DDHQ, which is our partners
that called the Presidency first. We beat the Associated Press
and the Broadcast Networks by four hours, called North Carolina first,
called Georgia first, We called the House first, by hours
(01:07):
and hours with DDHQ. GDHQ has still not called or
projected a winner in the Pennsylvania Center race. So yes,
I believe our data, guys, And even though the AP
and others have called it, I think the fact that.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
We have.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Not I think it says that it, yes, very well
could end up in a recount.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, you know what, let me follow up on that
for a second.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So one of your colleagues now is Chris Steyerwaldt, who
I think is the best political analyst in America. I
just love talking to the dude, and you and he
both worked at Fox, and he got fired from Fox
for correctly calling Arizona an hour or two hours before
the Trump people wanted it called. Given how all that
(01:56):
played out and the furor about even someone who got it,
how did you guys think about making calls like that
before anybody else did.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
I think one of the things that is so important
about NewsNation is the editorial independence that we are given.
Unlike the other networks, our executives don't cheerlead for one
side or the other. There is no entrenched ideological vision.
We're journalists, which means we're skunk at the garden party.
(02:29):
And I think the only directive I've ever been given
is to be fair, which is interesting because fair now
looks to be center right, because no one is in
the center and the rest of.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
The establishment media is so far to the least.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So we don't cheerlead, and we don't relish in anyone's
demise and sort of celebrate and glook. We just simply
call balls and strikes. And I think what's interesting and
different about NewsNation was DDHQ disaus HQ was given complete
autonomy for their race calls.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
There was no executive or overlords.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Well, maybe this is good for one campaign, maybe it's wrong,
maybe it's helpful, maybe it's not.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That just wasn't a discussion.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I believe that, and it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It's part of the reason that I'm such a big
fan of NewsNation as you As you know, I had
an interesting conversation yesterday with many people I don't know
on on Twitter, which is a terrible place, and I
was saying that although I have no particular love for
(03:40):
any politicians, I said I hoped that the Senate Majority
leader would be John Thune because I thought that, at
least certainly compared to Rick Scott, I could more reliably
count on John Thune to protect the prerogatives of the
Senate and make sure that the executive does not as
successfully grab more power as they have not just under Trump,
(04:03):
but under Biden and under everybody.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And and John Thune.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Won despite MAGA, all the mega people probably calling their
senators and saying vote for Rick Scott. You're a lot
closer to this whole situation than I am. So what
do you make of the choice of John Thune.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I think what's most interesting is that this is a
case where someone pledged allegiance to Donald Trump. And to
your point, the magabase really wanted Rick Scott Senator of Florida,
and the Magabase didn't get what they wanted because Donald
(04:40):
Trump actually stay out of something, which I think is fascinating.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And there's a couple of ways to look at this one.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
He wouldn't have won had he got involved, because the
Senate is a pretty independent place, and Thune had the
votes and Rick Scott to doctaus. He is disliked by
a lot of senators and not trusted by a lot
of senators. So in that sense, it's political muscle, right
if you exercise it and you fail, you lose it.
It's currency, not really a muscle in that sense. So
(05:10):
there's that way to look at it. And Trump read
the room and understood what was happening. Number two, it's
perhaps a sign that Donald Trump is looking at his
presidency not necessarily through the lens of MAGA, but through
the lens of his own legacy and what he wants
(05:30):
to get done, and thinks that John Thune may help
him get more things done. So in all ways, it
is a very and I hate this word, but it's
an interesting development because it is not it is expected.
Do had by far the most support, but it is unexpected,
and that Donald Trump finally found something that he didn't
get involved in.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, I agree with all that, and I think it
works out well. I also think that the MAGA people
who think that Fune is somehow insufficiently concerned one are
not giving him enough credit for how conservative he is,
and two don't understand what that job is. And I
think that Fune will be fine for Donald Trump unless
Donald Trump tries to do something really egregious that just
(06:13):
takes power from the Senate to a degree that the
Senate shouldn't tolerate.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
I try to stay away from the machinations of the
Senate in the House and everything else. I think you're
right to point out that the executive has been getting
more and more power over the past forty years because
Congress keeps seating its power under Article one of the Constitution,
which is a bad thing for the democracy and for
the Republic, I should say, rather than the democracy.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Chris Diarwalt would correct me.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
So, what we're writing about in war Notes, warrenoes dot
com to subscribe. It's our free newsletter. Ross reads it
every day. It's why he is so smart and thoughtful
and insightful is because he reads war Notes every day
and subscribes for free. That basically my show prep and
the line we're taking on this, And I think what's
(07:05):
most interesting about what's happening right now is we are
seeing in real time kind of the way Donald Trump
is thinking about setting up his presidency and it's gonna
be a one term presidency, and we haven't had a
guarantee of a one term presidency of someone who just
came in right in. I guess it would be I'm
(07:28):
thinking it was in the Republic of in the time
of the Republic, because the last time it happened with
Glover Cleveland that he lost the one lost one, there
wasn't the term limits that existed because of Franklin Roosevelt.
So it's a pretty wild time to see this president
try and cement in four years as a lame duck their.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Legacy.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
We're talking with Leland Vinnord, who hosts on Balance News
Nation five pm Mountain Time, also go to Warnoes dot Com.
As Leland said, it's basically his show prep and it
is a wonderful distillation of the most important stories of
the day and kind of a summary of what Leland's
going to talk about on the show Warnoes dot Com.
And it's it's free, so it's funny, Leland. I do
(08:18):
a little thing each day. I record a forty second
thing that runs on a couple of our other stations
called the Ross Report. And I had recorded this thing
saying I'm pretty pleased with Donald Trump's pick so far right.
I think Steffonic is fine for un and I like
Mike Waltz pretty well for National security, and we'll see
if it's Marco Rubio, who I actually probably like better
(08:38):
as Secretary of State than as a senator, and so on.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
So I had written this thing and actually recorded.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It, and then he names Pete Hegseth as his pick
for Secretary of Defense and I don't know Pete hegg Sath.
I have nothing negative to say about Pete hegg Seth.
He's smart, and he's done his service by and I
don't see how there's anything real in his background that
(09:04):
gives him the skill set to run what might be
the single biggest bureaucracy in the entire world.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
And I wanted to bring this up with you because
I know you know him.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I do.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I do know Pete Hegseth, And I think the knock
that just because you were a captain in the army
and that you're now on TV somehow makes you unqualified,
where someone who had been a longtime bureaucrat or had
studied defense theory or was a senator makes you qualify
(09:37):
to be Secretary of Defense cheapens what being a secretary
is about it. And this is the point that somehow
the credentials matter, right. Donald Trump was totally unqualified to
be president by any modern standards, and he got elected
again because people thought he had done a good job
the first time.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
So I think the qualification thing is separate.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Accept is going to face a very simple question.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I think is he an honorable man?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
And that's going to be something that's going to be
played out in the media, and it's going to be
played out in the Senate confirmation hearings, and the American people,
through their representatives being the Senators, are going to have
to answer that question for themselves. And if you think about,
you know, oh, maybe somebody's going to be over the
EPA or Secretary of the Interior. You know, the secretary
(10:30):
of this fine character matters, but not to the same
extent if you have the nuclear codes and you are
making these decisions about sending American men and women off
to war.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
So I would I think all the questions about you know,
he says the woken disease to die in the military.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Donald Trump ran on that you can't say that that's
a surprise.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Donald Trump ran on ending forever Wars.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Donald Trump and you know, ran on saying that the
military has become far too much of part of the
swamp and has lost its lethality in the bureaucracy of
the Pentagon, brass is serving itself and serving the people
who were in it before through all of the generals
(11:14):
who come back as defense contractors. So all of that,
Donald Trump branoff whether pete excess is the right person to.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Carry that out or not. I think the American.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
People will see over the next sixty or so days.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Okay, so a couple of follow ups on that. So
I'm not sure I even want to ask you this
in public, so you can just answer or decline or whatever.
But are you implying in your rhetorical or maybe not
rhetorical question about whether Pete Hegseth is an honorable man
(11:48):
that you might have a reason to say you're not
sure or something other than a resounding yes.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Pete well enough to make that assessment. I've been on
television with him. He and I co anchored Fox and Friends.
I think the parts of his past are well known.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
There's other parts of his past that are less well known.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
In Senate confirmation hearings and the New York Times and
the Washington Post looking into your background tend to bring
those parts out and put them on the front page
of newspapers, and is the lead stories in television programs,
and then the American people decide based on that what
what what happens? You know?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
And I would just you know, my job is to
sort of analyze things.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
You think about what happened? Say, with Ronnie Jackson, who
was nominated by Donald Trump to be head of the VA,
and similarly you had things not ended up well for
him because of certain things that came out and were adjudicated.
Whether it's fair or not, whether Ronnie Jackson would have
been good at the VA maybe a little bit beside
(12:55):
the point.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I think the.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Shot at him that always says he doesn't want women
in combat, well he he and a lot of other
people have some really good arguments for that.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Bocism needs to be out of the military in.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
A return to a focus on lethality not diversity. Yes,
that's what Donald Trump ran on. That's what the American
people elected Donald Trump to do. Uh, the focus on
really doesn't have the credentials. Well, there are a lot
of people in the first Trump administration who you wouldn't
have said had quote unquote the credential to take on
their cabinet roles and did an exceptionally good job. So
(13:35):
I think I think that the focus is going to
start being on Pads's background, and then the American people
will decide and Congress will decide as well what the
Senate their thoughts.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
All right, last last area for you and it'll be
sort of two questions in one, but I just want
to do a little a little foreign policy. What do
you think are the reactions in uh, in Jerusalem slash
tel Aviv, and in Kiev about the election.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I was with the Ukrainian ambassador of the United States
last night. I think they are cautiously optimistic, and I
think there's reasons for.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Them to be.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
I think that there are such things as unwinnable wars
which the Ukrainians may be in, and I think that
they were being forced by the Biden administration for its
own reasons, to accept this idea that there will be
no negotiations with Putin, which probably in retrospect, was an
(14:37):
enormous mistake and had a lot more to do with
Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor's ego than it did
with good sound foreign policy, because almost every war ends
in negotiations, not in capitulation.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Jerusalem, they're doing.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Cartwheels, right, And not only are they doing cart whales
because Donald Trump got elected, they're doing cart whales because
Mike Kuckabee just got appointed the ambassador to Jerusalem or
to Israel based in Jerusalem. Uh. You know, Mike Cuckabee
is a Baptist preacher who's been to Israel one hundred
times and says that there is no such thing as
the West Bank as ju day in Samaria. You know,
(15:11):
Mike Cuckebe is probably more right wing than Benjamin net
Yahoo will admit out loud and more hawkish is Israel.
So they're doing cartwheels there, which, by the way, I
think is a very good thing for the Middle East,
because the stronger Israel is and the more focused on
weakening Iran the world is, the safer the world becomes.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Leland Vinnard is the host of On Balance and Arizon
News Nation at five pm Mountain Time.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I have a listener text here.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Ross. I love war Notes, thanks for turning me onto it,
and Leland is awesome.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Indeed he is.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Go to war notes dot com. Yeah, go tell your friends.
Go to war notes dot com. Sign up for free
and read my blog every day as well, also free
at Rosskominski dot com. And between me and Leland, you're
gonna have all the all the news you need for
for your entire day or your entire week. Thanks so
much for your time. As always, Leland's great to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
All right.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Thanks buddy
Not what I told you we were going to do,
but something I'm glad we're going to do. My friend
Leland Venter joins us.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
He hosts on Balance on News Nation on weekdays five
pm Mountain Time, and it's my favorite show on cable news,
and it's our first time we get a chance to
talk after the election.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
So it's good to see Leland.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Always good to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
If what surprised you the most about the election, and
then we'll do more forward looking stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
But what surprised you the most?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
McCormick winning the Senate in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Interesting that Bob Casey hasn't conceded yet, do you is
there any chance that McCormick will not end up being
the winner?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Based on what you're seeing, I think.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
What's most interesting in that sense, and I'm glad you
picked up on it is DDHQ, which is our partners
that called the Presidency first. We beat the Associated Press
and the Broadcast Networks by four hours, called North Carolina first,
called Georgia first, We called the House first, by hours
(01:07):
and hours with DDHQ. GDHQ has still not called or
projected a winner in the Pennsylvania Center race. So yes,
I believe our data, guys, And even though the AP
and others have called it, I think the fact that.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
We have.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Not I think it says that it, yes, very well
could end up in a recount.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, you know what, let me follow up on that
for a second.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So one of your colleagues now is Chris Steyerwaldt, who
I think is the best political analyst in America. I
just love talking to the dude, and you and he
both worked at Fox, and he got fired from Fox
for correctly calling Arizona an hour or two hours before
the Trump people wanted it called. Given how all that
(01:56):
played out and the furor about even someone who got it,
how did you guys think about making calls like that
before anybody else did.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
I think one of the things that is so important
about NewsNation is the editorial independence that we are given.
Unlike the other networks, our executives don't cheerlead for one
side or the other. There is no entrenched ideological vision.
We're journalists, which means we're skunk at the garden party.
(02:29):
And I think the only directive I've ever been given
is to be fair, which is interesting because fair now
looks to be center right, because no one is in
the center and the rest of.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
The establishment media is so far to the least.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So we don't cheerlead, and we don't relish in anyone's
demise and sort of celebrate and glook. We just simply
call balls and strikes. And I think what's interesting and
different about NewsNation was DDHQ disaus HQ was given complete
autonomy for their race calls.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
There was no executive or overlords.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Well, maybe this is good for one campaign, maybe it's wrong,
maybe it's helpful, maybe it's not.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That just wasn't a discussion.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I believe that, and it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It's part of the reason that I'm such a big
fan of NewsNation as you As you know, I had
an interesting conversation yesterday with many people I don't know
on on Twitter, which is a terrible place, and I
was saying that although I have no particular love for
(03:40):
any politicians, I said I hoped that the Senate Majority
leader would be John Thune because I thought that, at
least certainly compared to Rick Scott, I could more reliably
count on John Thune to protect the prerogatives of the
Senate and make sure that the executive does not as
successfully grab more power as they have not just under Trump,
(04:03):
but under Biden and under everybody.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And and John Thune.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Won despite MAGA, all the mega people probably calling their
senators and saying vote for Rick Scott. You're a lot
closer to this whole situation than I am. So what
do you make of the choice of John Thune.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I think what's most interesting is that this is a
case where someone pledged allegiance to Donald Trump. And to
your point, the magabase really wanted Rick Scott Senator of Florida,
and the Magabase didn't get what they wanted because Donald
(04:40):
Trump actually stay out of something, which I think is fascinating.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And there's a couple of ways to look at this one.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
He wouldn't have won had he got involved, because the
Senate is a pretty independent place, and Thune had the
votes and Rick Scott to doctaus. He is disliked by
a lot of senators and not trusted by a lot
of senators. So in that sense, it's political muscle, right
if you exercise it and you fail, you lose it.
It's currency, not really a muscle in that sense. So
(05:10):
there's that way to look at it. And Trump read
the room and understood what was happening. Number two, it's
perhaps a sign that Donald Trump is looking at his
presidency not necessarily through the lens of MAGA, but through
the lens of his own legacy and what he wants
(05:30):
to get done, and thinks that John Thune may help
him get more things done. So in all ways, it
is a very and I hate this word, but it's
an interesting development because it is not it is expected.
Do had by far the most support, but it is unexpected,
and that Donald Trump finally found something that he didn't
get involved in.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, I agree with all that, and I think it
works out well. I also think that the MAGA people
who think that Fune is somehow insufficiently concerned one are
not giving him enough credit for how conservative he is,
and two don't understand what that job is. And I
think that Fune will be fine for Donald Trump unless
Donald Trump tries to do something really egregious that just
(06:13):
takes power from the Senate to a degree that the
Senate shouldn't tolerate.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
I try to stay away from the machinations of the
Senate in the House and everything else. I think you're
right to point out that the executive has been getting
more and more power over the past forty years because
Congress keeps seating its power under Article one of the Constitution,
which is a bad thing for the democracy and for
the Republic, I should say, rather than the democracy.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Chris Diarwalt would correct me.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
So, what we're writing about in war Notes, warrenoes dot
com to subscribe. It's our free newsletter. Ross reads it
every day. It's why he is so smart and thoughtful
and insightful is because he reads war Notes every day
and subscribes for free. That basically my show prep and
the line we're taking on this, And I think what's
(07:05):
most interesting about what's happening right now is we are
seeing in real time kind of the way Donald Trump
is thinking about setting up his presidency and it's gonna
be a one term presidency, and we haven't had a
guarantee of a one term presidency of someone who just
came in right in. I guess it would be I'm
(07:28):
thinking it was in the Republic of in the time
of the Republic, because the last time it happened with
Glover Cleveland that he lost the one lost one, there
wasn't the term limits that existed because of Franklin Roosevelt.
So it's a pretty wild time to see this president
try and cement in four years as a lame duck their.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Legacy.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
We're talking with Leland Vinnord, who hosts on Balance News
Nation five pm Mountain Time, also go to Warnoes dot Com.
As Leland said, it's basically his show prep and it
is a wonderful distillation of the most important stories of
the day and kind of a summary of what Leland's
going to talk about on the show Warnoes dot Com.
And it's it's free, so it's funny, Leland. I do
(08:18):
a little thing each day. I record a forty second
thing that runs on a couple of our other stations
called the Ross Report. And I had recorded this thing
saying I'm pretty pleased with Donald Trump's pick so far right.
I think Steffonic is fine for un and I like
Mike Waltz pretty well for National security, and we'll see
if it's Marco Rubio, who I actually probably like better
(08:38):
as Secretary of State than as a senator, and so on.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
So I had written this thing and actually recorded.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It, and then he names Pete Hegseth as his pick
for Secretary of Defense and I don't know Pete hegg Sath.
I have nothing negative to say about Pete hegg Seth.
He's smart, and he's done his service by and I
don't see how there's anything real in his background that
(09:04):
gives him the skill set to run what might be
the single biggest bureaucracy in the entire world.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
And I wanted to bring this up with you because
I know you know him.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I do.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I do know Pete Hegseth, And I think the knock
that just because you were a captain in the army
and that you're now on TV somehow makes you unqualified,
where someone who had been a longtime bureaucrat or had
studied defense theory or was a senator makes you qualify
(09:37):
to be Secretary of Defense cheapens what being a secretary
is about it. And this is the point that somehow
the credentials matter, right. Donald Trump was totally unqualified to
be president by any modern standards, and he got elected
again because people thought he had done a good job
the first time.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
So I think the qualification thing is separate.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Accept is going to face a very simple question.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I think is he an honorable man?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
And that's going to be something that's going to be
played out in the media, and it's going to be
played out in the Senate confirmation hearings, and the American people,
through their representatives being the Senators, are going to have
to answer that question for themselves. And if you think about,
you know, oh, maybe somebody's going to be over the
EPA or Secretary of the Interior. You know, the secretary
(10:30):
of this fine character matters, but not to the same
extent if you have the nuclear codes and you are
making these decisions about sending American men and women off
to war.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
So I would I think all the questions about you know,
he says the woken disease to die in the military.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Donald Trump ran on that you can't say that that's
a surprise.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Donald Trump ran on ending forever Wars.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Donald Trump and you know, ran on saying that the
military has become far too much of part of the
swamp and has lost its lethality in the bureaucracy of
the Pentagon, brass is serving itself and serving the people
who were in it before through all of the generals
(11:14):
who come back as defense contractors. So all of that,
Donald Trump branoff whether pete excess is the right person to.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Carry that out or not. I think the American.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
People will see over the next sixty or so days.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Okay, so a couple of follow ups on that. So
I'm not sure I even want to ask you this
in public, so you can just answer or decline or whatever.
But are you implying in your rhetorical or maybe not
rhetorical question about whether Pete Hegseth is an honorable man
(11:48):
that you might have a reason to say you're not
sure or something other than a resounding yes.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Pete well enough to make that assessment. I've been on
television with him. He and I co anchored Fox and Friends.
I think the parts of his past are well known.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
There's other parts of his past that are less well known.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
In Senate confirmation hearings and the New York Times and
the Washington Post looking into your background tend to bring
those parts out and put them on the front page
of newspapers, and is the lead stories in television programs,
and then the American people decide based on that what
what what happens? You know?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
And I would just you know, my job is to
sort of analyze things.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
You think about what happened? Say, with Ronnie Jackson, who
was nominated by Donald Trump to be head of the VA,
and similarly you had things not ended up well for
him because of certain things that came out and were adjudicated.
Whether it's fair or not, whether Ronnie Jackson would have
been good at the VA maybe a little bit beside
(12:55):
the point.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I think the.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Shot at him that always says he doesn't want women
in combat, well he he and a lot of other
people have some really good arguments for that.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Bocism needs to be out of the military in.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
A return to a focus on lethality not diversity. Yes,
that's what Donald Trump ran on. That's what the American
people elected Donald Trump to do. Uh, the focus on
really doesn't have the credentials. Well, there are a lot
of people in the first Trump administration who you wouldn't
have said had quote unquote the credential to take on
their cabinet roles and did an exceptionally good job. So
(13:35):
I think I think that the focus is going to
start being on Pads's background, and then the American people
will decide and Congress will decide as well what the
Senate their thoughts.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
All right, last last area for you and it'll be
sort of two questions in one, but I just want
to do a little a little foreign policy. What do
you think are the reactions in uh, in Jerusalem slash
tel Aviv, and in Kiev about the election.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I was with the Ukrainian ambassador of the United States
last night. I think they are cautiously optimistic, and I
think there's reasons for.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Them to be.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
I think that there are such things as unwinnable wars
which the Ukrainians may be in, and I think that
they were being forced by the Biden administration for its
own reasons, to accept this idea that there will be
no negotiations with Putin, which probably in retrospect, was an
(14:37):
enormous mistake and had a lot more to do with
Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor's ego than it did
with good sound foreign policy, because almost every war ends
in negotiations, not in capitulation.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Jerusalem, they're doing.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Cartwheels, right, And not only are they doing cart whales
because Donald Trump got elected, they're doing cart whales because
Mike Kuckabee just got appointed the ambassador to Jerusalem or
to Israel based in Jerusalem. Uh. You know, Mike Cuckabee
is a Baptist preacher who's been to Israel one hundred
times and says that there is no such thing as
the West Bank as ju day in Samaria. You know,
(15:11):
Mike Cuckebe is probably more right wing than Benjamin net
Yahoo will admit out loud and more hawkish is Israel.
So they're doing cartwheels there, which, by the way, I
think is a very good thing for the Middle East,
because the stronger Israel is and the more focused on
weakening Iran the world is, the safer the world becomes.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Leland Vinnard is the host of On Balance and Arizon
News Nation at five pm Mountain Time.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I have a listener text here.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Ross. I love war Notes, thanks for turning me onto it,
and Leland is awesome.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Indeed he is.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Go to war notes dot com. Yeah, go tell your friends.
Go to war notes dot com. Sign up for free
and read my blog every day as well, also free
at Rosskominski dot com. And between me and Leland, you're
gonna have all the all the news you need for
for your entire day or your entire week. Thanks so
much for your time. As always, Leland's great to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
All right.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Thanks buddy
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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