Washington Needs A Real Patriot - A Conversation With Richard Ojeda

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1:22Available on select zip code zone with cancel anytime, non-refundable fee, product purchase required, terms and service restrictions apply. Details at most.com slash terms subject to change. CRM was supposed to improve customer relationships. Instead, it's shorthand for can't resolve much. Which means you may have sunk a fortune into software that just bounces customer issues around but never actually solves them. On the service now AI platform, CRM stands for something better. With AI built into one platform, customers aren't mired in endless loops of automated indifference. They get what they need when they need it. Bad CRM was then. This is service now. This is my miracle bell. This is Michael Cohen and you're listening to the one and only mayor called the podcast. 20 days. That's where we're at. 20 days into a war with Iran and I want to be very clear from the outset

2:27because too many people are afraid to say it plainly or they say it in whispers when they should be shouting it. I believe I believe that Iran was dangerously close to acquiring a stockpile of highly enriched uranium not necessarily a fully weaponized nuclear device but material that could have been refined further or repurposed into something immediately dangerous including dirty bomb material. That distinction matters. Hundreds of kilograms of uranium enriched is 60 percent. It's not some theoretical risk. It is a tangible, quantifiable danger that could be transformed into a nuclear weapon in weeks or used as a radiological weapon capable of mass disruption and the world cannot allow we run to possess a nuclear device not someday, not eventually, not under any circumstance. But acknowledging the threat does not give any

3:31president of any party. I don't care Republican Democrat. It does not give any president the right to act without restraint because here's the paradox that we face. In responding to the danger, we risk creating new dangers. Military strikes, disruption of inspections and the fog of war have now made it harder to track the very material that we sought to contain. Bombs made destroy facilities but they cannot always destroy risk. They can in fact obscure it. You see we are left now with uncertainty where the once was at least partial oversight and that uncertainty it carries consequences that could last for years. You know at the same time the cost of this war it's already being felt across the country. Oil prices are climbing, markets are unsettled and Americans are paying more at the pump. Families already stretched thin or now facing the added burden of global

4:35conflict hitting their wallets. Wars are expensive not just in lives but in the everyday reality of households across the country. Food, rent, transportation, healthcare, all of this become more difficult when geopolitical uncertainty drives the price of fuel and goods upwards. The economic toll is immediate and more importantly it is personal. This is a war that does not just play out on distant shores. It lands squarely in people's living rooms in their bank accounts in their decisions about how to provide for their families. And then there's the question of accountability. You see the War Powers Act of 1973 it actually gives the president a 60-day window to engage militarily without Congress particularly under the justification of an imminent threat

5:37Trump? Well he sees that authority and not illegally but right at the edge of what the law was meant to allow. The law was designed to force the bait, oversight and congressional action not to provide a blank check. And yet here at home the guardrails are being tested to their limit. A Senate vote to impose meaningful restrictions it failed. No oversight, no course correction, just silence, silence and deference where they should have been at least a debate. The clock is ticking and unless Congress asserts itself before the 60-day window expires what was intended as a temporary measure risks becoming something far more permanent. And meanwhile the definitions of imminent are being stretched in ways that should alarm every American. Tulsi Gabbard for example, she declared in committee hearings that only the president

6:38can determine what qualifies as an imminent nuclear effect. Let that sink in only the president can determine what qualifies as an imminent nuclear threat. I mean for God's sakes if the threshold for war rests solely on one man's personal judgment then the checks that were supposed to exist are for, I don't know, all practical purposes evaporating. Power once expanded does not easily recede. The consequences of that expansion are not theoretical, they are real and they could affect every future president, every future decision to commit American forces abroad and every calculation of global nuclear risk. And the cracks? Yeah, the cracks are showing elsewhere, MAGA, long defined by loyalty and cohesion, it's now fracturing over this war. Some supporters see decisive action, others see another open-ended entanglement with no clear exit strategy. Internal

7:46resignations, letters and quiet exits from administration officials suggest dissent, discomfort and disagreement behind the scenes. Even within the president's own coalition, questions, real questions are being raised that cannot be ignored. The moment reveals that unity is fragile when the stakes are existential. But my friends make no mistake, this is a moment of reckoning and not just for those in power, but for those who aspire to hold it. Criticism from the outside, well that's just easy. Real leadership demands stepping forward with clarity, with courage and a plan that restores accountability. It demands an understanding of both the necessity of strength and the cost of miscalculation. Someone who can see war, not as an abstraction, not as a political talking point, but as a series of decisions that affect lives, livelihoods and the very security of our nation.

8:50Because make no mistake, Iran posed a real and a growing nuclear risk. Dirty bomb material in rich uranium stockpiles, these are threats that cannot be ignored. But belief in the threat, it's not a substitute for strategy and fear, it's not a substitute for oversight. We need leaders who understand both the danger and the responsibility that comes with responding to it. Leaders who will demand accountability, oversight and transparency. Leaders who know that bombs alone do not guarantee safety. Which is exactly why today we turn our attention to someone who embodies that perspective. He's a retired army major who has seen war firsthand who knows the weight of command who understands the consequences of every decision on the battlefield and in the halls of power. Someone who's stepping forward now to bring accountability, his experience and

9:53courage to the congressional floor because he is running to represent North Carolina's ninth congressional district and he is major Richard Ojida. So let's go now to that conversation. Major Ojida, welcome to Mayacopa and honor to have you want my audience to my listeners please know that major Richard Ojida retired is running for North Carolina for district nine for Congress. There's so much that I want to talk to you about, especially because of your military background that I really want to ask you because right now major we are 20 days into an active U.S. military engagement with Iran. You have missile strikes, naval deployments and the Persian Gulf. Are we actually safer today or do you think that this incursion I don't know why they keep using the word excursion but do you think that we're safer today or just more exposed? No we're definitely not

10:59safer. We are without a doubt not safer. You know this is buffenary at best. I mean at the end of the day before you move forward to try to wage war on anybody. You know the first thing you should do is try to make sure that you speak to all of your allies to line up any support whatsoever. But the problem is is for the last 10 years Donald Trump has done nothing but basically throw stones at all of our allies and then he decides with you know BB Netanyahu that it's time to wage war here and it's absolutely unacceptable. It was not done the proper way. You know the American people the world did not ask for this and I really believe that you know a big part of this was all just to try to keep people's eyes away from you know what's really going on over here which is the Epstein files and I hate to say nothing would surprise me of Donald Trump sending us to war to keep I mean he said it on on a recorded call you know F. Marjorie Taylor

11:59Green you know you're not releasing the files start a war if you have to and that's what we are and and it's it's horrible because now we're going to see more flag-draped coffins coming back this way and the military and just real conflicts are eating this stuff up because they're the ones who make all the money because of this. The average American is not going to make nothing the average American is going to have to carry this on their shoulders and it's unacceptable. You know I tell you there's some to which you said I agree with others you know one of the issues that I have is the fact that we have as the American people we have absolutely zero intelligence information that has been given to us so far as to the imminence for the need on that Iran strike I don't know whether or not that information came from BB Netanyahu and the IDF I don't know if it came from Saudi Arabia or from Qatar or the United Arab Emirates I don't know because we've

13:04not been told literally nothing and as I watch these stupid press conferences every morning with General Cain and worse Pete Hegseth at least Cain knows what he's talking about I don't think this has anything to do with the Jeffrey Epstein file and I'm going to tell you the reason why because while we're still at war the 20 days costed us a billion dollars a day while we're still at war Congress has not stopped they have already now questioned a guy by the name of Khan who was Jeffrey Epstein's private accountant they also have the hearing of a guy named Indyku's Epstein's personal lawyer you know these investigations are continuing new documents are still being demanded for release and new documents are still coming forward every single day so I don't think that the goal is there my understanding right is that Congress

14:10is still doing their job regarding the Epstein transparency act but I'm still again going to defer to you who has military experience what was the imminence and why did it need to be done so quickly let's see that's the thing though that's why it's like I don't think that it had to be done so quickly I mean like what six months ago we bombed Iran because they were weeks away from getting their hands on a nuclear capability and then all of a sudden Pete Hegseth is victory lap you know and says oh we bombed them out of you know back to the seven ages there they're never going to mess with us again and then six months later here we are again launching war with Netanyahu because because we're worried that they were about to strike us with a nuclear capability so which was it did you bombed them back into the Stone Age or were you lying to us and and you know in terms of you know what's going on I think you're correct it's not gonna stop you know no matter what they do on the right it's not gonna stop what's happening on the left because it's now it's now

15:14happening you know like you said files are coming out they're still talking about it they're still fighting to get everything that is being hidden to be allowed to be seen it's just it's one of those things where it's like you know there's no reason why we we had to do this and here we are and this is another war that's going to end up being you know waged on the backs of the average citizens if you think that the billionaire class are going to send their kids you know that's not going to happen yeah you know that's not happening I totally agree you know but my only concern I wrote about this in my sub stack the other day I'm not really willing to take the chance of a nuclear Iran right because once they have one then they basically they take back a lot of power and control we lose the leverage within which to do what we just trust me if they were sitting with an arsenal or even one nuke or one real dirty bomb right enriched uranium not to the nuke stage but to a

16:17dirty bomb stage I don't think that they would America or anybody would go in so quickly they would become the terror of the middle east and that's why since 1979 every single president every single secretary of defense now of course secretary of war every single one of them have said it and that goes to Bush Obama Trump Biden Trump again every single one have said the same slogan Iran must never possess a nuke and I'm not willing to turn around and to take that chance that's why I keep saying I wish to God the president would get in front of the camera and instead of doing it while on Air Force One or while walking to Marine One I wish that he would sit in the oval and engage the American people in a conversation about the basis for why we did it

17:19what's the information what's the facts that you could tell us no I think I think you're right on that aspect because once again like North Korea has 50 nuclear weapons you know we're not rushing into there you know I think you're right about that reason but the reason why we're not the distinction between North Korea and Iran Iran is a theocracy like they actually want to die because the afterlife for them is better than the current life whereas North Korea Kim Jong-un doesn't want to leave this planet ever right he's got the greatest fucking gig known to mankind you know he tells a shitty joke he tells a shitty joke the whole country lasts yeah right you're right you're spot on you're absolutely right and in you are right you know the Iran is one of these places that we don't want them to be able to get that capability because many of them have said it before that they know we know exactly what they're going to do with no you're spot on in that aspect I just my thing is is that you know there's things that need to happen yes and

18:23and there's there's a process and I feel like you know Pete Higgs said to them they just do what they feel they think they want to do you know the whole thing about the bombing of the boats in the Caribbean you know when they bombed that boat that had 11 people on it Pete Higgs did his victory lap and actually as if he practically did it himself and then when somebody said whoa whoa if you look at the video you'll see that there were still two survivors that were holding on to debris and then you went back and fired a second third and fourth body killing them that's what we call going back into the kill zone and double tapping people and once they said hey that's a war crime all of a sudden Pete Higgs said doing his victory lap goes oh well I wasn't actually in the room when that happened but I do support admiral the admiral who did so so you know I mean they're not doing the the things the right way you know I don't tell people you know we have the military

19:23decision making process and that's what happens when you put all these military minds in a room together and they start coming up with you know three different types of you know these are the three things we were thinking about doing and we're gonna basically start deciding which one is best which one is worse to where we decide this is what we're going to do and that's not happening you know Pete Higgs said that and we're just basically saying okay let's do this and they do it and once again it's it's blowing up in their faces and at the end of the day this is gonna you know it's only making the United States of America look bad you know I sit down and say to myself you know we used to have a lot of allies and I don't really think we have very many allies I mean we've got a lot of people out there that probably would still step up to the plate and help us if they have to but we don't have the allies the way that we used to have the allies because Donald Trump has throwing stones at them and and you know it's been going on for years and then all of a sudden you know here we go we commit to a war and our allies are telling him no we're not gonna send

20:26our troops down to the strait of war moves so they can ride a boat next to your boat and end up potentially maybe even being sunk and killed so that you can have somebody else and that kills them with you no that's not good don't worry about that right so major let me ask you this because you've seen combat up close eye on the other hand I've sat in those high pressure rooms where decisions get made before the facts are fully baked gotta ask you this question do you believe that this administration has the defined endgame before the first strike or do you think that they improvising in real time I think this is complete improvising this is this is you know they move forward and now they're trying to find you know allies do it since that doesn't happen if you do it the right way if you do it the right way first off before you do anything you contact your allies and say hey we're thinking about doing this and this is the reason why we're doing this and if it's a good enough reason then your allies should say well you know what it's a good

21:27reason so we will support you on that ask you know we will support you and and then there's you know we'll support you with either troops we will support you with allowing you to use the bases in our country to basically launch strikes from that stuff didn't happen you know and then and then and then in the after effects you Donald Trump but then go ahead and do it and then all the said Donald Trump Trump starts screaming we're gonna cut ties with Spain because Spain is now saying they're not gonna allow us to use their facilities to continue with bombing raids you know it's they're doing it the wrong way and and it tells me that they don't really have anybody that is up there that's actually really telling them the way to go and if they are they're choosing to not listen to it and do it on their own so Trump chose this path predicated on what's called the war powers act of 1973 I started watching as soon as that first strike hit and I woke up I couldn't freaking believe my eyes you know I get up at 4.30 in the morning I start writing my substack by then

22:31I do all my own writing and you know I turn on the television I'm reading the newspapers you know while I'm figuring out what I'm exactly gonna write about and I see this war this attack going on in Iran I couldn't believe I thought I was dreaming and then I see all of these geniuses come out this is unconstitutional this is illegal he's not following protocol that may be true but he is following a right that the president has given to him under the War Powers Act of 1973 which allows 60 days of military engagement without any congressional approval now every president before him has actually invoked at some point the War Powers Act as well but my question to you is based on what we've seen so far you think that the president is operating within the law or you think that he's stretching it beyond recognition you know I look at this and I think you know

23:32why are we committing ourselves to another war I mean I look at I look at this as a forever war and the only people that are going to benefit from this or the military industrial complex only those who have stock in the military industrial complex you know but once again I also have to say that you know you are correct I mean we do not want you know I ran to have that capability but we bombed them six months ago and you told us that we bombed them out of existence they'll never be able to get another capability he used the words right he used the words obliterated yeah yeah so we obliterated them six months ago what are we obliterating now exactly so that's my thing is that you know what it just be honest with the American people you know you bombed the have out of them six months ago and we found okay we're good now I have a problem you know they're taking away their ability to be able to have a nuclear capability I don't have a problem with that but once again six months later here we are and now we're talking about putting troops on the ground now you know you bomb our red and then and then you wonder why would they straight

24:36you know decide to shut down the straight of hormones because that's the way they get to reality retaliate by making life painful for everybody else you know when it comes to at the gas funds and things like that but I mean once again you obliterated their capability six months ago so now why do we have to rush into this war without going through and getting the permission and talking to Congress about okay so let's let's play this out for a second because I acknowledge what you're saying here and I agree with it you know I think that it's extremely important this administration come clean with the American people you know it would stop a lot of the bullshit chit chat that's going on right you know like when we send our military and when you know when you were deployed you know you don't tell them hey you know we'll let you know where we're sending you when you get there now I think you know in advance there's a strategy he did not have to go to Congress that's obvious and shame on all of these asshole pundits that came out there because

25:38all they do is they keep creating more and more conspiracy theories but it is a 60 day time limit for him and then 30 days on a withdrawal so he has now 40 additional days because we are on day 20 for this military engagement before which he has to go to Congress which I have to tell you I'm not certain he wouldn't get it how crazy is that right the fact that when you start seeing folks like Mark Wayne Mullin being able to basically say nothing to refuse to answer or incapable of answering and then moving further in the nomination process for this insanely important job one that we just watched Christy Nome and you know pardon me for saying shoot the pooch right because she did shoot her fucking pooch right I mean you know she shit the pooch on that one for sure right get gets shit canned and now they're bringing somebody in who really knows very little about anything

26:46I'm just like you I'm concerned yeah but see that's a thing though it's far for the course you know Mark Wayne Mullin's not really qualified for this job but guess what Pete Higgs said there's nowhere near qualified I am way more qualified for this job than Pete Higgs said this and I'm no well I'm not even near qualified for that job you know we have a guy what's he's named Fugate Fugate he's a 22 year old kid that was a groundskeeper and a grocery store clerk he's the one that's responsible for keeping that safe right now from terrorism I mean Donald Trump places people in positions not because of their you know that what what what makes them you know able to do that job he puts people in those positions as long as they agree to say whatever you want Donald Trump we will do you know I mean it's it's it's it's a joke Pete Higgs said is not he is not qualified for this job and what bothers me is that and once again I'm trying to make it to Congress I want

27:48to look some of these general officers in the face I'm going to look in the face and say tell me something why did you sit quiet you know I got it you don't want you know to lose your job you're a four star general you are an admiral you're as high as you're going to get I'm really you stand up and fight and push back on some of this garbage then basically just go forward with it especially if you know that it may be wrong I mean look at what Pete Higgs said then to add to that admiral he threw him under the bus and then said sure I wasn't in the room but but I support him wholeheartedly because because I'm pretty sure he did the right things no the moment that you were told that what happened in that second third and fourth volley was a war crime all the sudden your victory lap went to well I wasn't really in the room but I support the admiral for going in and hitting that that measure so you remember when Pete Higgs said thought that he was like Tony Robbins on the stage and he has like a buck fucking private is sitting there and he's schooling

28:50admirals and generals right telling them about the the macho man code of military ethics and so on and how we've all become too woke I mean this shithead right is sitting there and he's basically talking to the top brass in this country guys who have fought um I mean you know got lost limbs the whole nine yards these are these are oh yeah leader come combat stripes all the way up there's they're right on combat stripes you know each stripe is six months in a combat zone and they've got literally 20 stripes and he's telling them about the warrior ethos right because because he did because he had commanded a squadron of six people these guys command thousands of people they're running they're running strategy and so on I found that to be you know obviously you know one of the factors the concept that you're referring to is meritocracy versus loyalty right you know if

29:57they're not they're not brought in based upon merit they're brought in based upon their loyalty but you see I'm with I'm with you on that you know congress of course as I was told not to try part-time system of government they have the constitutional authority to declare war and yet here we are it's interesting though that the administration pdegseth all of them across the board they're not using the word war anymore they're trying to find other words anything other right uh excursion and again I think the word that they're looking for was really incursion incursion not an excursion right um you know they're calling it um a an operation like a military operation at what point do you think especially since you are running for congress for district nine in North Carolina at what point if you were right now in congress would you step in and turn around and start to demand certain um information be provided oh now but and now I

31:08mean once again what what are the objectives you know where where's our our our hit points of the things that we want to do what what do we want to accomplish with this and then are we prepared for you know what comes next I just I don't think that I kind of feel like everybody is kept in the dark you know uh I still see you know we we we sank or or killed over what 150 people in the Caribbean over a hundred people in the Caribbean that's the Caribbean and then the moment the moment that we went down there and snatched up you know the president of Venezuela uh now all the sudden the drug boats coming to America are are we don't hear about that anymore you know but before before we went down there did that to Venezuela that was the top of this conversation you know I'm gonna tell you this we bombed a school we bombed a school in our right and here's my thing the last thing that we need to do is is do things that make us the bad guy you know look but going after their ability to be able to to get a nuclear weapon that's justifiable we do not want

32:13them to have a nuclear weapon but when you bomb things like a school or you bomb a place like it's a factory that takes the salt out of the water so that people can have clean drinking water when you do those things it doesn't look good on you and the thing about it is when you say oh well we we were accidentally using older maps the United States military does not go down that path that's the reason why we have the military and the military decision making process we make sure that before we move forward our ducks are in a row before we move forward we have the most updated maps available because if you don't have the most updated maps available you could find yourself in situations where you are bombing places that could be schools and that's what happened and it bothers me that we did not have the intelligence or that we did not look for the intelligence before we moved forward and did this yeah I mean look obviously nobody wants to see children you know whether they're female or male children at school getting blown up you know

33:19that's I mean that's just an unfortunate you know scenario and I'm with you I would like to get some answers on that as well as to where that fuck up came from because that and they've acknowledged that they were operating I think Marco Rubio acknowledged that they were operating off of an old map well yeah you know and they put the school directly next to one of their offices all right within which I guess prevent the bombing but our laser guided systems today are so pin you know they're so pinpointed that it wouldn't have made a day wouldn't it so I'm with you I would again we just don't have any information at all and that's the part that I find the most disturbing so let me ask you this question all right oil prices have surged since this conflict began you know my son called me up he said to me holy shit you know I filled up literally two weeks ago and it was three dollars and say 68 cents a gallon and now it's five dollars he goes he had to go

34:27up so quickly right we're seeing and we are feeling this at the pump literally across the country yep how long before this war becomes economically unsustainable for working Americans or do you think that it's already here I mean well I think right now Americans are already having tough times you know that's that's one of the big issues I mean and then the cuts that are being made in the big horrible bill we're talking 86,000 jobs from the veterans administration there's just so much stuff that's going on that are hurting the American people I mean you know when you've got MAGA that are now starting to say look we've decided we're we're done now we're done they're done because they're the ones that are that are not able to you know make it from month to month that's what's going on right now and let me tell you something it's only going to get worse when these things actually follow through when you cut and destroy Medicaid and that rural hospital that

35:29relies on that Medicaid money to stay open when that hospital has to shut down the people that live around that hospital that rely on health care now I have to move closer to health care or they're pretty much hurt and I will tell you that's the kind of stuff to get happened I come from southern West Virginia I'm going to tell you that the hospital that I grew up around is on the chopping block because if Medicaid is is swacked that hospital was not used to and here's what happens when you take people's ability to be able to afford decent health care the only thing that they can do is always go straight to the emergency room because the emergency room is the only place that is not allowed to say get out now the problem with that is is that the emergency room has to take care of those people but those people don't have the ability to pay the emergency room it's more pain on the hospital itself and it's going to cause that hospital have to shut down and that creates ghost towns and that's an absolute fact when a hospital closes down or a

36:34Walmart moves into your area and makes all the mom and pop stores shut them and then the Walmart decides to pull its pitch and run because that's exactly what happened in Dow County West Virginia and right now you've got a whole entire county of people the liberty have to wait to the first of the month so that they can put gas in their cars so they can drive over to Mercer County to buy you know thanks for their families and groceries because if they don't they get everything from the dollar general and that is absolutely not the way the American dream is supposed to go yeah especially nine to five dollars a gallon and they're not going to keep going too often right so let me I'm going to ask because I don't know if you may know this because I was asking about this early truck drivers now once again that's the backbone of this country you know what the truck driver stopped today the the shelves don't get stopped I mean these are crucial people do truck drivers have to buy their fuel out of their own pocket and then do they get reimbursed by their country or company or is that just far to being a truck driver you take the cost of gas on

37:38the can so that's a it's a great question and it's a bifurcated answer because some of the truck drivers work for a specific company right and so they are contracted out at you know per job or fifty dollars a hundred dollars based upon that commercial you know that commercial driver's license to CDL obviously if they're working for a company it's the company is paying the gas but otherwise if they're independent well it gets built into the cost so if Walmart hires John Doe who's an independent commercial truck driver and he normally would try would charge them for this specific haul say five hundred dollars now he needs to charge them say six fifty because of the addition in the gas well here's the problem you know Walmart Costco you know none of these big box stores are going to eat that on the chin so what do they do

38:42they pass the cost on to the consumer so yet again it's almost like another tariff expense that allegedly we're not paying for but we are so we're not just paying it at the pump and people confuse us all the time it's called the circular flow of economic activity that's that's the exact term this the circular flow of economic activity the big box chains the retailers they're never the ones picking up the bill it's always the consumer consumers pay tariffs tariffs are taxes when you go ahead and you now purchase your good from the big box store they now increase the price of everything by say 25 cents 50 cents and you may not think that that's a lot if you're going into buy one item but as you buy more and more items yeah it adds up very much like

39:49the cost on the tariffs it just keeps adding up and all it does is deplete the money that people need within which to live on because you're right major affordability is the number one issue which is why every single special election that has been held since January of 2026 all 32 32 of them have all gone Democrat not one for a Republican and there's a reason why but I want to do then instead of talking because you're I could hear it obviously in your accent West Virginia but you are running for North Carolina for district nine so to your constituents this goes directly to your constituents there in North Carolina when they are already living paycheck to paycheck as is the vast vast majority of this country what is the sustained five dollar per gallon of

40:52guess actually due to them oh it's it's brutal I mean it's like just like you said it's brutal and then again once again I wasn't really thinking so much about you know the company the stores themselves I mean people are already struggling people are already pissed off because they can't afford groceries you know and and then this is only going to make it worse I mean you know I I personally would like to be able to say that there's a lot of things that we could do that if we just start taxing people I mean like the rich you know because it seems like the the middle class have carried this country on their shoulders ever since Ronald Reagan said trickle down economics the billionaires never let anything trickle down they just bought bigger plates you know I think it's time that we've got to start doing what we can to try to help you know the people the average Americans that are the ones that are always you know I guess I could say it on here always the ones that are fed a shit sandwich because that's exactly what happens you know we've got to do things to try to make

41:53life better for these people we've got to try to do things to help people with having adequate health care you know I the teacher strike in West Virginia a big reason why we had a teacher strike in West Virginia was not just about teacher pay but it was about the insurance for the teachers because you know they were paying high prices for insurance and the insurance wasn't even really adequate so you know I mean there's just so many different things that are happening out there that you know people are hurting you know you get in the fender bender you get the fender bender you pay into an insurance company for your car but you get into a fender bender and rather than claim it on your insurance have the damn time you'll write a check and say here you go and I've done that because I don't want it to claim it on my insurance so that my insurance is going to skyrocket you know it's it's it's a no win situation you got to have insurance but the moment that your house burns down everything that you own all of a sudden was depreciated and you know it's like it's like

42:54we always make sure that the people the people and I'm going to say the people at the bottom which is the average American citizen in this country they're the ones that are always on the chopping block and and we just we got to figure out ways to help these people yeah we do meanwhile and I'm a firm believer that healthcare should be universal I believe that all Americans should have and I'm it's the one thing that I absolutely agree with Bernie Sanders on because I think Bernie Sanders is way too far left for my taste I'm kind of left of center always have been but I am 100% lock-in step with him I think universal healthcare should be in American right it should not exist for just simply the wealthy it should not just exist for those that you know I I believe it should be for everybody I really truly do but I want to get back into this because again you know you're running for Congress and as we Democrats are heading into the 2026 midterms I actually believe

44:03right that we still are walking a tightrope now if you look we are if you look at and I will never stop saying that because the second we take our foot off the guests the same thing that happened in 2025 will happen right I mean where Kamala got diced by Trump in all seven swing states not one out of seven not three as him he took all seven out of seven swing states which was absolutely an impossibility if you listen to the Democrats standing on the stage talking to the average American person so here we are heading to the 2026 midterms and you who want to represent your constituency as you talk to your to your constituents to the potential voters you think that you could risk looking weak if you take a position that you oppose the war or if hypothetically you complicit

45:11and you stay silent or do you have to take the position that like I do since again I'm not running for anything I do not oppose the war in fact I'm more concerned as I wrote in my sub-stack article of nuclear or a dirty bombed Iran and the damage that they will cause not just to the middle east not just to the obliteration of Israel but also to the ability to strike the United States with either an ICBM or a hypersonic missile what line do you tow now look at the end of the day I I agree we do not want Iran to have the ability to have that I am not for I don't want to put boots on the ground because putting boots on the ground means we're going to be in there for the next 10 to 20 years and I don't want that so I want to make sure that you know we're not committing ourselves to another forever war but I also believe that they did it the wrong way you know they

46:16they should have at least you know looked out and communicated with our allies I mean let's get people behind us now let's not move forward because now nobody nobody's wanting to stand with us and and that's not the way it's supposed to be you know uh so that's that's that's my thoughts and that's what I say that's what I tell people you know look look I served this country for 24 years wow bless and thank you for your service well I mean I've been die rack and Afghanistan multiple times and and I'm going to tell you you know I've been into Iraq and I really believe that we were looking for weapons of mass destruction and the truth is is there was no weapons of mass destruction you know and we we we swacked over a million Iraqis and it was unacceptable you know we went into Afghanistan you know what we had Osama bin Laden held up in the poor boar mountains and I'll tell you this I don't know how much you know about Delta Force but I'm going to tell you you could have took five Delta Force operators and you could have sent them into those caves and they would have

47:19annihilated every single person in those caves and they would have drug Osama bin Laden's bones out of it when they were done and all of a sudden we said stop what you're doing pull back pull back and then we invade Iraq and that's what took place I mean you know when when I start to see our government doing things like committing troops and and waging war I just want to make sure because I don't want to be duped again and when we're talking about Donald Trump we're talking about a man who historically does not know how to tell the truth to anybody so I worry about us going and getting into another forever war because the only people to benefit from that are the military industrial complex right there on Lockheed Martin Halliburton ran on route they're the ones who benefit the African-American doesn't benefit it costs the average American money to weigh and at the end of the day it's the average American sons and daughters that are the ones that are going to come back and flag drink coffins and I despise that that should be the last resort for anything

48:22and right now we've got Marines that are waiting to put boots on the ground and I ran people will die people will get wounded you know you're sitting here not you but they're right now cutting the veterans administration how dare you cut the veterans administration while you are beating the drums of war and going after the health care that we have they're not talking about oh we're going to go after fraud through the VA you know what the VA isn't perfect I belong to the VA and I deserve the VA because I earned it dangerous gracious cutting VA capability I'm gonna bet that we're starting cis removed from my body and I always were at wonder because I probably got four more right now because they just pop up and I always take them myself it's probably it could probably end up one day becoming cancerous I have been exposed to burn pits I've been on vehicles that were destroyed with depleted uranium I mean you know this is stuff that we were exposed to you know I've

49:25got a buddy in mind up for 24 years 24 years he walked the beat as the male delivery guy he was in desert storm this guy's feet looked like that and it took them over 20 years before they finally looked him into faith and said yeah you're suffering from Gulf War syndrome they said it didn't even exist and this guy I actually used to display his military uniform in my office when I was a state senator in West Virginia and his boots the the the souls jet black from walking in oil over during desert storm yeah so you know to me I just I second me when these people beat the drums war because they don't know the ramifications and oh by the way not only will will flag drape coffins come back but broken men and women will come back that will rely on the veterans administration for the rest of their life you know I am a big supporter of medical cannabis and you can see my background

50:28there's a there's an eagle right there well if you look close enough those eagles there are that eagle has 13 dog tags on the last day of the legislative session when I was a state senator I held up those 13 dog tags and I said cannabis will not bring them back but cannabis can help those who hear their screams and see their faces when they go to sleep at night and I had Republicans stand up and say because of what you said I'm going to support your bill and my bill became right that's a fact I can get saved done even in a super minority but you know what the veterans administration needs to be starting to look at things like that because the truth is you and I both know that every single pill that you take especially these days and I take a lot of medication in the morning and at night and I have to but oh by the way if you do the research on that medication you'll find out that it goes after your kidneys your liver so by the time I'm 65 years old I may be able to tag on lists for a liver transplant when the truth is you could probably have given

51:31me medical cannabis to help me sleep at night and it wouldn't cause those horrible things to my body this is the stuff that we as veterans have to deal with but when we are continuing to wage war where we do nothing but create more and more people to get in line at the veterans administration it's it's hurting everybody in the end and these people that are the ones waging this war they don't rely on that they don't belong to the VA and it's not their kids that are out there you're not going to see Baron you know and oh by the way if they ever do they're going to be jack officers you know and I say I don't think Baron is actually a candidate because he's too tall no I think uh what's he saying I think he's what sticks I think he's six nine right there's no I'm not sure that they were taken I think he's too big of a target you know it would be very it would be very difficult and let me tell you something I've seen a lot of I've seen a lot of tall people in the military uh you know you know he may not be able to exit an aircraft as it is a paratrooper but I'm sure there's things I can do hey let me ask you this

52:35question let me ask you this question you know I was contemplating uh on becoming a um uh Delta Force the problem though is I have a fractured disc in my neck too with my lower back I've a Thritis I have heart conditions and um you know and uh what do you got I hate the water I I don't like I don't like the water and I'm also not really good with um heights what's the chances then but I am a great shot I got to tell you that I'm like an eagle eye well I mean you know there's always the the pathway to the to the sniper know you know if you want to be a sniper but but once again you know to get into those positions those are combat rolls uh and and that's what I tell people if you're willing oh yeah I mentioned that I'm 60 I mean but but I mean but the thing is is that you know those are combat rolls I tell people if you're going to commit other Americans to war you should be willing to commit your sons and daughters if they are a fighting age right and and and you know that's the thing is that you know those

53:39are the people who are going to have to carry it but don't I don't want your son and daughter to go be a jack officer if you want to commit my son and daughter to war then you should commit your son and daughter to war and oh by the way don't go to the jack officer out go infantry go combat engineers go go positions where you're going to see action if you're going to vote to wage war then you should send your children to go fight that war and not send other people's children to go fight that war and that's the problem that we've had for a long time right and you're not wrong you know I wanted to say this to you because we brought up before you know the whole issue of the War Powers Act and how I do believe that um congress as you believe should be informed even right now despite the fact that he has another 40 days under the War Powers Act to continue this incursion this operation here's the part that bothers me and it's why I say that the president has total control over the congress right now the senate the senate recently voted down I think

54:47it was either yesterday or the day before they voted down a measure that was introduced by democrats that would have required explicit approval to continue these hostilities it was voted down does that vote essentially tell you that Trump for the next at least 40 days has total unchecked authority I mean that's what it sounds like to me sounds like to be too right sounds like he does I mean if they're not going to you know stand up and and push back but I mean at the end of the day it's like I forget the guy's name he just resigned you know he was uh he was a green beret uh a delta operator uh he resigned because he said that he could not continue doing what he's doing when he believed that the intelligence shows that there was no reason for us to do talking about Joe Kent yes yes the counterterrorism guy well okay so let's talk about Joe Kent

55:49because he resigned yeah he sends a letter sends it directly to Trump he's reportedly raising concerns about the internal decision making processes he makes all sorts of claims about lack of um emergency uh or imminence and so on me I have a little bit of a different subpoena as it relates to Joe Kent first of all I thought the letter was um poorly drafted on his behalf I am not a fan of Joe Kent and um he whatever he did he did but what does that signal to you about dysfunction or dissent inside of this administration oh I mean I think that there's dysfunction without a doubt uh look I don't I don't you know say that I stand with this Joe Kent guy I just say that you know if he just he come out and said that didn't say that was something that needed to happen and then I have to think about the fact that six

56:52months ago we bombed them and we bombed them into oblivion and then now we're back at it again like I just I just want and like you said you know for the next 40 days the Senate have stood up and they said look we're going to defend this yeah uh it is what it is I just I just hate seeing American men and women committed to this I my biggest thing right now is boots on the ground I just I know that if we put boots on the ground this does not stop you see you see major I want answers that's all that I want I want to know that if I'm spending a billion dollars a day plus if I'm going to have boots on the ground children American kids going there to fight right to put their lives on the line for me I just want answers and that's what I really have against Joe Joe Kent did not have the answers he wasn't in the room he doesn't know whether there was or was

57:56not imminence within which to strike Iran and again I'm so conflicted because the fear of a nuclear Iran the fear of a uranium enriched Iran is so devastating not just for the Middle East but for all of the world the world because the Iran is a theocracy will use it within which to terrorize everyone fuck they don't even have the missiles or the bomb or they don't have the enriched uranium and they've been terrorizing the world since 1979 so imagine how much worse that they would be I don't want my kids you know going to sleep here at night thinking oh where's the closest fall out shelter we don't even have them here in New York City at least not that I'm aware of yeah no no I understand I mean I we do not want Iran to be a country that has nuclear capabilities because like you said I mean there have been plenty of threats that that that we know that if

58:57they haven't they'll probably act on it I just once again though you know bitch be up front honest you know be up front let us know tell us the truth if you if you didn't you know do it with their capability then it is what it is but you told us six months ago it was they were bombed back to the Stone Age I just I I don't want to continue putting troops you know on the ground because I know what comes from that and it's the soldier that comes home that's broken and bruised and and lost their their their their their their brothers and sisters and arms and that's that's the light that you got to learn how to deal with and it's tough you know I'm gonna tell you you know there were times when I really believe I was broken you know you can justify death in the combat zone but you know I was I was one of the first people you know my my brigade I was in second brigade uh 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment in the 82nd Airborne Division we were the first on the ground when the earthquake and had Haiti happened and I'll tell you

1:00:00you know like I said in combat you know they were coming up on us we used the rules of engagement we eliminated threats you do what you got to do that's it's it's it's it's war but you can't justify an entire school pancaking and killing every kid inside and it it broke me you know but I will tell you there were also things that happened in places like Afghanistan that my body literally shut out and then like four years later came back to me in a dream and when I woke up I was physically like disturbed because I knew that it actually happened you know my body shut that one situation out and four years later I'll wake up in the middle of the night because it come back to me sure and you know my brother that's called that's called PTSD that's that's but it's PTSD right I know I I have it from solitary confinement I did 51 I had 51

1:01:03days of solitary confinement you know uh no movement nothing fifth you don't know whether it's night it's PTSD and you got it but I do want to ask you this as the mayacopa hour comes to an end if you major Richard O'Hida running for North Carolina district nine are elected to Congress God willing in 2026 what specific legislation would you introduce in your first 100 days to reassert congressional authority whether it's over war powers um or whether it's over gas tax I don't know over what what would you what would you end up doing specifically something really concrete not theoretical but really concrete okay there's a few things that I really want to do obviously I want to sign on to ending citizens united that's that's definitely something I want to do but I would like to make the first $45,000 that everybody makes to be tax-free the first

1:02:05$45,000 imagine most teachers and school service personnel don't even make $45,000 a year so it would basically say that you don't have to worry about paying taxes take care of that I would like to tie the minimum wage to the cost of living so the prices of groceries go up minimum wage goes up so if you're working 40 hours a week playing getting paid minimum wage you can still put food on the table for your family uh there's other things that I want to do I would love to bring back the fairness doctrine Ronald Reagan killed the fairness doctrine that's what brought Fox News about and the truth is is that you know what I don't care if it's CBS NBC all of these news media you know entities they should absolutely be required to speak the truth stop spewing garbage stop spewing lies and look everybody's doing it everybody doesn't why can't we bring back the fairness doctrine and say that if you are in news media you've got to be honest you got to tell the truth and if you if you lie to the people you're going to get a severe fine if you keep lying to the

1:03:08people you're going to be taking off the air you know that's the kind of stuff that I think we need because there's a lot of horrible things that are going out there and it's poisoning the minds of a lot of people and you know look I look you know I'll tell people if you're an independent and you don't like what you see I'm your guy but if you're a Republican and you're sick and tired of the you know the government that looks like all they care about is the filthy rich and everything that they do takes away from the the average working class citizen I want to support those people too I want to start making the billionaires pay their fair share you know if I give my house to my children when I die they're going to have to pay taxes on that but the filthy rich have things put in place to where they don't have to pay taxes on the things that they inherit they can buy lear jets and and yachts and new houses and it's all tax write-offs but they pay less percentage

1:04:11of taxes than a nurse does you know I I personally would love to try to see if we could create a system since like you said we should have universal health care in this country but if we're not going to give the people in this country universal health care then why don't we create a VA style system for people like police officers firefighters first responders correction officers let's show nurses in there and why not throw teachers and school service personnel because these are seven groups of people that are always fighting for decent health care in their jobs why don't we say that we're going to create a system we'll get the billionaires to pay for it and we say that if you are a police officer firefighter or a first responder quick so you do one turn in that row your health care is taking care of you can now go ahead get a retirement and then go get a second retirement someplace else but you don't have to worry about your health care we should do that to those people because I'm gonna tell you this the VA takes care of me might the VA does I have a

1:05:11mental health person that sits down with every person that served in the military that gets their disability set sits down with you to talk to you about your issues your PTSD police officers and firefighters and first responders don't have that they have to swallow it and every single day they're out there and in places like New York and Boston and Chicago we're talking about people out there that are seeing some of the worst things that you could possibly see every other day mangled children bodies being removed from horrific car crashes these are people that struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder I tell people you find a person that does that job for 10 years and I'm gonna show you somebody has a hard time sleeping a night and we should do everything in our power to try to elevate these people because they deserve something and I am more than willing to go to Washington DC and try to push for things like that you meant to that so my friends anybody there's that's in that district nine of North Carolina you got major Richard O'Hee to running I want to thank you for joining me on me a culpa any hope that you need from me my friend I'm here for you thank you

1:06:15for your service to this country thank you for your desire to continue to provide service to this country and thank you so much yeah I say good good luck my friend and you please stay in touch because I need to stay in touch with you I appreciate you and I appreciate your fight so thank you thank you to your audience and yes oh Jennifer Congress North Carolina's Night Congress will be let's get it done you got it and now for today's may a culpa power doesn't always announce itself for the bank sometimes it slips in quietly disguised as routine votes expedited hearings and just enough plausible deniability to keep everyone comfortable that my friends is exactly where we are right now and trump isn't just influencing congress oh no he's reshaping it in his image and not through some grand constitutional rewrite but through something far more subtle and far more effective conditioning lawmakers are learning in real time what happens when

1:07:21you fall in line and what happens when you don't and increasingly they're choosing the easier path take the case for example of Mark Wayne Mullen his nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security it should have been a moment facerious scrutiny I mean we are talking about one of the most critical positions in the federal government I'm talking about an agency that sits at the intersection of national security immigration disaster response and law enforcement this is not a role for improvisation or bravado and yet during his confirmation hearing what we saw was not command a policy or depth of experience but defensiveness contradiction and a truly troubling comfort with rhetoric that edges toward political violence now that's not my interpretation oh no it was called out directly by colleagues on both sides of the aisle even republican ran poor the

1:08:24chair who is no stranger to partisan battles openly questioned Mullen's temperament I mean when someone within your own party the chair for God's sakes is raising red flags about your ability to lead that's supposed to matter or at least it used to and then there's Gary Peters who pointed to Mullen's history of aggressive behavior and his failure to provide clear truthful answers about his past claims including a so-called classified trip that appears not to exist in any official record in any of the era that that alone would have been disqualifying but here's where the story shifts from concerning to alarming you see despite all of this denomination advances and not because the concerns were resolved but because they were overridden and the deciding factor a single vote from Democrat John Federman who crossed party lines to push the nomination out of

1:09:28committee that's not a triumph of bipartisanship that is the erosion of standards dressed up as cooperation my friends what we're witnessing is a congress that is at least for now operating less like a co-equal branch of government and more like an extension of executive will the tri-partite system hasn't been formally dismantled but it is being informally redefined checks and balances don't disappear overnight they weaken incrementally one rationalized decision at a time and Trump he understands this better than most you see he doesn't need unanimous support he doesn't need perfect candidates he just needs enough compliance to keep the machinery moving enough votes enough silence enough people willing to say yeah this is fine when it clearly isn't I've seen how this plays out behind closed doors the pressure it's not always explicit it doesn't have

1:10:35to be ambition fear loyalty calculation they do the work on their own and before long the question stops being is this the right person for the job and becomes is it worth the fight to stop it that that's how you end up advancing a nominee for homeland security who struggles to answer basic questions about his own record and shrugs off concerns about endorsing political violence and that's that's the real warning here because once congress gets comfortable lowering the bar for something this consequential it doesn't raise it again easily the precedent sticks the expectations shift and the next nomination becomes just a little bit easier to push through so yes yes Trump may have congress in the palm of his hand at least for now but the bigger issue isn't his grip it's how many people seem perfectly willing to stay there and as always thanks for listening

1:11:42this is my miracle bell oh baby don't lie for me if i tell you my star don't cry for me i didn't have time that's fine by me this is my miracle if you dance with the devil it's gonna go down tell the truth it's now oh this is my miracle it's coming on down and you know where i'm going to bring it on down bring it on down bring it on down President Barack Obama Virginia we are counting on you Republicans want to steal enough seats in

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