The Darrell McClain show
Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one Planet; nobody's leaving so let’s reason together!! Darrell, McClain is a Military veteran with an abnormal interest in politics, economics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature. He was born and raised in Jacksonville FL, and went to Edward H white High School where he wrestled Under Coach Jermy Smith and The Late Brian Gilbert. He was a team wrestling captain, District champion, and an NHSCA All-American in freestyle Wrestling. He received a wrestling scholarship from Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. After a short period, he decided he no longer wanted to cut weight which effectively ended his college wrestling journey. Darrell Mcclain is an Ordained Pastor under The Universal Life Church and is still in good standing, he's a Believer in The Doctrines of Grace Also Known as Calvinism. He joined the United States Navy in 2008 and was A Master At Arms (military police officer) He was awarded several awards while on active duty including an expeditionary combat medal, a Global War on Terror medal, a National Defense Medal, a Korean defense medal, and multiple Navy achievement medals. While In the Navy he was also the assistant wrestling coach at Robert E Lee High School. He's a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under six six-degree black belt Gustavo Machado, Darrell Trains At Gustavo Machado Norfolk under the 3rd-degree black belt, and Former Marine Professor Mark Sausser. He went to school for psychology at American Military University and for criminal justice at ECPI University.
The Darrell McClain show
Unpacking Trump's New Direction: Policy Shifts, Economic Disparities, and Global Impacts
Is America's political landscape bracing for a seismic shift? We explore this question through President Trump's whirlwind of policy changes during his first week back in office. From immigration to climate policy, his executive orders are setting a new and controversial direction for the nation. We dissect the implications of rolling back protections for asylum seekers, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, and the bold move to expand fossil fuel use. We also tackle the controversial reshaping of federal diversity programs and the pardoning of individuals tied to the January 6 Capitol incident, unveiling Trump's broader agenda to redefine American life and politics.
The episode delves deep into the provocative question of federal economic interdependence between red and blue states. We explore the irony and complexity of red states, which often champion smaller government, benefiting the most from federal aid funded by blue states. How does this reality impact infrastructure, public services, and even the migration of skilled professionals? We analyze the socio-economic challenges and brain drain that result from these political decisions, as well as the contrasting affordability and quality of life between red and blue states.
To wrap up, we assess how Trump's executive actions are shaking up both domestic and international realms. His decisions to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, restrict recognition of gender identity, and withdraw from international organizations like the WHO could have far-reaching global implications. We question the sustainability of the red state economic model and the potential fallout if they were to pursue secession. Join us in unpacking these bold moves that could reshape the United States and its position in the world.
the "ChristiTutionalist Politics" podcast. Weekly (weekends) News/Opinion-cast from...
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Welcome to the Darrell McLean Show. I'm your host, darrell McLean. Independent media that won't lead you to tribalism. We have one planet. Nobody is leaving, so let us reason together. We're on episode 440.
Speaker 1:So as we get into President Trump's blunt message after a whirlwind week of executive orders and presidential proclamations may boil down to this, take me at my word. Proclamations may boil down to this. Take me at my word. So during four years in political exile after his first term, trump vowed to radically reshape American life, culture and politics if he got another chance. In the first week, he demonstrated that he will seek to do just that, and fast, as he races to make good on the promises that vaulted him back into power. Not all of his directives will succeed in the end, but already the United States is in a different place than it was just a week ago.
Speaker 1:Several efforts to address climate change have been rescinded and more land opening to oil drilling. The government now recognizes only two immutable genders male and female. Migrants now are referred to officially as aliens and they are turned away at the border, and immigrants' agents now have the freedom to target hospitals, schools and churches in search for people they think are illegal, and they tend to deport. Large-scale tariffs have been imposed have yet to be imposed, but nations around the world are bracing for those that Trump has said will come on February 1st. Diversity efforts in the federal government has been dismantled and employees turned into snitches. Federal money will once again be barred from paying for abortions overseas. Mount Denali once again will be known as Mount McKinley, and the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Interior Department, is going to be called the Gulf of America. Career officials and agencies across the government have been let go as a part of Trump's pledge to get rid of what he considers disloyal members of the deep state. Security clearances and protections have been stripped from people Trump considers political enemies. Tiktok was given a temporary reprieve from a forced shutdown, even as Trump rescinded his predecessor's efforts to establish guardrails around the development of artificial intelligence. New regulations and new federal hiring are frozen. For now. More than 1,500 people who were convicted of crimes connected to the storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 have been pardoned or had their sentences commuted, including those people who committed violent crimes. Here are some of the biggest changes that happened this week Immigration.
Speaker 1:No single issue received more attention in the first few days in this new administration than immigration. The issue has been long at the center of presidential political identity, and he promised throughout the 2024 campaign to make a far-reaching policy change. Trump issued more than a dozen immigration-related orders that included scores of policy overhauls based on the premise that the United States is being invaded by dangerous immigrants crossing over the border from Mexico. Many of the most aggressive changes, including new powers to deny asylum seekers from entering the country, are aimed at aliens engaged in invasion. Trump quickly eliminated policies that prevented immigrants, immigration and customsforcement officers from raiding churches, schools and hospitals. He blocked the entry of thousands of refugees who already had been cleared to come to America but legal basis and halted civil programs allowing temporary residency, including people from Ukraine, cuba, haiti and Venezuela. He made good on his longstanding promise to scale back birthright citizenship, an order that a federal judge quickly blocked, calling it blatantly unconstitutional. Basically, the notion is that you cannot change the United States Constitution via executive order. The Trump administration has sought to enlist state and local officials in federal immigration law enforcement and directed federal officials to investigate and potentially prosecute officials in cities and states who interfere with government's deportation efforts, and the administration directed agencies to withhold funds from so-called sanctuary cities in which officials refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agents.
Speaker 1:When it comes to the climate, trump issued a half a dozen executive orders related to energy aimed at expanding the US use of fossil fuels, curbing renewable energy and abandoning the federal government's efforts to address climate change period. He pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. He shut down several efforts to prepare for a risk of a warming planet. He initiated plans to open larger areas in Alaska to drill for oil and he ordered a freeze on federal permits for wind farms across the country. Trump's promises to unleash American energy, which he defined as everything except wind and solar power, would take time to have an impact. He ordered agencies to streamline permitting for gas pipelines and miming and repeal the rules to promote electric cars, but there is largely a required process legally for the redoing of federal regulations that could take years and has to pass muster with the courts. Other actions may end up being largely symbolic, as Trump declared an energy emergency and he claims he has authority tohape the nation's energy landscape. But many oil and gas companies are not looking to significantly increase output, which is already at record levels, since doing so could lower the price and squeeze profits, but the wind industry, a frequent target from Trump, is bracing for a backlash on some companies that have already delayed or canceled new investments.
Speaker 1:When it comes to tariffs in trade, trump has previously written on social media that he would impose a 25% tariff on products from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% tariff on products from China on day one of his administration, accusing those countries of not doing enough to stop flows of drugs and migrants into the United States. Instead, he released an executive order that requested reports on exhaust, a list of trade issues from various agencies, by April 1st. Some business groups expressed relief, but the sentiment was short-lived, because on Monday night, trump told reporters he planned to put a 25% tariff on products from Canada and Mexico beginning on February 1st, and on Tuesday night he said he would also put an additional 10% tariff on Chinese products by the same date. It remains to be seen if those tariffs actually go into effect, but even if they do not, trump will have plenty of opportunities in the coming months to make good on his campaign promises to impose sweeping tariffs on foreign products, including high levies on China and universal tariffs on most imports. That can help raise money to offset tax cuts when it comes to gender and transgender rights.
Speaker 1:Specifically, with an executive order billed under a Protecting Women from Gender Ideology Extremism, trump ordered the government to excessively recognize only two immutable sexes male and female. By proclaiming that a person must be a permanent gender identity, the administration reversed efforts by the Biden administration to accommodate people who were intersex, transgender and allow them to self-identify in interactions with the government. It also rejected the mainstream medical understanding amongst groups such as the american medical association, which recommends viewing gender and sex as a falling along a spectrum. The order has already prompted administrative changes. The State Department removed the unspecified or other gender identity category from passport applications, where, broadly, it directs agencies to scrub any mention of non-binary gender identity from official documents and memos. Certain agencies were urged to protect men and women as biological to stake sex, in part by maintaining single-sex spaces, such as prisons and shelters for women, from which transgender women will now be denied access under the policy and the order explicitly rejected the Biden administration's interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling protecting transgender workers was a basis for extending its protections to transgender students through Title X last year when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Speaker 1:After declaring in his inaugural address that he would usher in a colorblind and merit-based society. Trump ordered federal agencies to immediately purge the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion from federal government policies, programs and practices. Targeted civil rights protections from government contractors. He rescinded an executive order from Biden that sought to advance equality for women and black and Hispanics and Asian and Native American people, as well as people with disabilities. Trump also then issued an order titled Ending Radical, wasteful Government DEI Programs and preferring and preferencing, which halts all work in the federal agency's aims at reversing any systemic racism, any systemic sexism and any form of inequality. The order required the shutdown of offices dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion work across all government agencies and the immediate dismissal of all and any employees working on such initiatives. The employees were placed on an administrative leave this week and are to be laid off within the next month. In an effort to root out diversity, equity and inclusion incentives in disguise, federal employees were told to report any colleagues that attempted to circumvent the order to a newly created email address. Those who know of any such activities but do not report them within 10 days would also face adverse consequences, according to the emails that were sent to all agency heads. Trump also went all the way back to the 60s and revoked the Civil Rights Era order, signed by President Lyndon B Johnson in 1965, that banned discrimination in government contracting. So now you can't officially discriminate in government contracting. The order has seen as an underpinning of the federal government commitment to have affirmative action when it comes to tech and artificial intelligence.
Speaker 1:Right after he was sworn into office, trump rescinded a 2023 executive order that established guardrails around artificial intelligence. On Thursday, he issued an executive order directing his staff to come up with a plan to pursue a policy that will sustain and enhance American global AI dominance. The president also issued an executive order to establish a group that would come up with a policy proposal related to cryptocurrency, an industry that Trump has personal investments in himself. Trump intervened in a battle over the future of TikTok. Officials in Washington fear that the immensely popular video app could pose a national security threat. Congress passed a law last year to force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban from working with the app stores and cloud providers. The Supreme Court upheld the law this month. The ban took effect on Sunday, but Trump on Monday told the Justice Department not to enforce the law for 75 days and to instruct companies like Apple, google and cloud computing to provide Oracle that during the period, there is no liability related to the work and disrupt and maintain the app. The app is currently working in the United States, but is still unavailable in Apple and Google app stores.
Speaker 1:When it comes to health and foreign aid, hours after taking the office, trump withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization, a move that he pursued in the last year of his first term. As the coronavirus pandemic raged on the first day in office four years ago, biden blocked the withdrawal from going into effect, as he did in 2020. Trump this week accused agency of botching its response to the pandemic and claimed that it asked for unfair and erroneous payments, with china paying less than the united states. The withdrawal means that the center for disease control and prevention, considered the world's leading infectious disease agency, would not have access to the global data of the world health organization Organization that it provides. It also deprives the World Health Organization of a key funding source that it uses to protect public health programs in other countries, a shortfall that public health experts say could eventually hurt disease-fighting efforts of American health officials during international outbreaks.
Speaker 1:American health officials during international outbreaks. The Trump executive order Monday halted all development aid, at least to 90 days, to foreign countries affecting programs aimed at alleviating hunger, disease and wartime suffering. As a part of the order, trump administration stopped disbursements of funds for programs that supply most of the treatment for HIV in Africa and developing countries around the world. The administration also revived the Mexico City rule, which bars federal funding from overseas non-government organizations that perform or promote abortions. Trump, on his first day in office, also rescinded a health order that called federal agencies to expand access to coverage of the Affordable Care Act's health insurance marketplace in Medicaid, the joint federal state agency's program for low-income Americans. Russell T Vaught, trump's nominee to run the White House Budget Office, told lawmakers this week that he supported Trump's first administration strategy of encouraging states to add work requirements for Medicaid. Trump's health department also said officials are to refrain from public communications, including publishing reports on things like bird flu and any outbreak. Meeting on the adversary's panel on health issues were also canceled.
Speaker 1:Trump administration officials defended the move, saying it allowed them to catch up to the activity in the department before signing off on a new public messaging. But the scope and the duration of the pause unnerved career officials and most outside scientists. Now, when it came to the federal workforce, the administration issued in one executive order that makes it easier to fire federal employees by subjecting them to rules governing political appointees, who have a much weaker due process rights. Trump also issued a memo inserting his authority to fire several thousand members of the so-called senior executive service top bureaucrats across the government and the administration began to remove some of them. Other memos told agencies to require employees to return to an office full-time as soon as practicable. Some federal employees said he had prompted them to look for new jobs outside the government and a list to employees who were still completing the probationary period required of new hires, typically for one or two years depending on their role and the category of the employee. The memo noted that employees could be terminated during their probationary period without triggering any appeal rights and suggested that the administration would seek a thin the civil service ranks by eliminating many recent hires. Trump also initiated a 90-day hiring freeze, causing agencies to rescind job offers for candidates whose starting date was imminent. The National Treasury Employees Union, which was about 90,000 active members across the agency, has filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday challenging the executive order and making it easy to fire federal employees. Other unions were still digesting the slew of orders and memos to understand the precise implications.
Speaker 1:What's extremely interesting about a lot of the executive orders is, if you watch the press conference, it becomes somewhat apparent that the president did not actually know about the executive orders he was signing. If you watch the conference, before he signs the order, he has people come up Sometimes it was David Sachs, it was other people and he says what am I signing here? And they explain what he is signing. And then there's even sometimes where there's an awkward silence while he's signing and he says just explain a little more, please. There's even a period of time where he is signing a order to release some people from prison and Donald Trump says how many people are being released? And the person has to tell him how many people are being released, what they're being released for, and then Donald Trump promptly says it's such a tragedy and it's an honor for me to sign this, etc. Etc. It was something to see, to say the least.
Speaker 1:So a few weeks ago actually, to be fair, a few months ago, it was way back in November I posted a side-by-side comparison of two states, oklahoma and Massachusetts, and I said was doing the comparison that in 2024, only two states had voted unanimously for one red and one blue. Oklahoma voted unanimously red, massachusetts voted unanimously blue. Now, when I looked at the statistics, it showed Oklahoma was 44th in education, 49th in health care, 44th in quality of life, 50th in test scores, top 10, worst in poverty. When it came to Massachusetts, it was first in education, second in health care, first in quality of life, first in test scores, top 10, least poverty. And so I asked what was the difference? I asked what was the difference and the explanations that I got were varied from well, it couldn't be a great quality of life in Massachusetts because the taxes are very high and it's very expensive. The cost of living is way more expensive to buy a house than it must be in Oklahoma, and I imagine it's probably due to the dense population relative to the physical size of the state.
Speaker 1:I'd also try to see any differences in the quality of roads or anything like that, or health care, and the person went on to say that they, when it comes to Massachusetts, you don't get free health care. You know they get. They get free health care in massachusetts, just like you don't get free health care in oklahoma or any other state which is also bs, because I believe the majority of people in the country uh thinks our tax dollars should provide us with free health care. And another person said oklahoma sucks, uh, but come on, uh, this is like comparing nyc to the middle of nowhere. Us massachusetts has damn near doubled the population and earns 10k more annually per household.
Speaker 1:Policy plays some factors, but there, but some state economies and locations definitely play a bigger role and um, so this, this made me want to tackle this question of what I think is a big ideological lie that has been going on about the difference and why there's these differences between these red states and blue states. And it's. The truth is that the red states and blue states, and the truth is that the red states are not doing as great as they would like you to think. Now, for decades, conservative politicians have championed the virtues of self-reliance, rugged individualism and small government and, of course, to do that, they painted blue states as bastions of wasteful spending, moral decay and economic mismanagement, while holding up red states as paragons of personal responsibility and fiscal discipline. But when you dig into the data and this is what I've been working on since november this could not be further from the truth.
Speaker 1:Red states, when it comes to the numbers, are actually propped up by economic engines of blue states and the federal government. If the US were actually divided into two nations, one red and one blue, the red states would face an economic catastrophe, driven not by liberal policies but by the very structural flaws backed in their ideologies. The numbers are actually fairly clear now. Red states, on average, are the largest recipients of federal aid relative to what they contribute in tax revenue. Mississippi, alabama and Kentucky, for instance, receive far more in federal dollars than they send to the federal government. In contrast, blue states like California, new York and Massachusetts constantly contribute more to the federal government than they receive, effectively subsidizing their red state counterparts. This imbalance is particularly striking given the rhetoric from red state leaders. Governors and legislators who rail against big governments, routinely reject federal programs like Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, leaving millions uninsured and hospitals underfunded. Yet they rely heavily on federal funds for roads, schools and public services. The irony is glaring Without blue state tax dollars, many red states would struggle to keep the lights on.
Speaker 1:Red states' economic struggling are merely the result of circumstances. They are often the direct consequences of policy choices. Anti-union laws, such as the so-called right to work policies, keep wages low and workers powerless, leading skilled laborers to seek better opportunities in other states. This brain drain exacerbates income inequality and stifles any economic mobility, leaving red states with older, less educated workforce that demand greater public support. At the same time, red states prioritize cultural wars over infrastructure, housing and health care. Infrastructure, housing and health care Legislative energy is spent on banning books targeting LGBTQ individuals and restricting access to reproductive rights, while critical issues like poverty and public health are ignored. The results are stark Red states constantly rank worse in health care outcomes, with higher rates of maternal mortality, opioid addiction and death from preventable diseases.
Speaker 1:Out Driven by a deregulated, profit-first approach, texas infrastructure crumbled under a severe winter weather, leaving millions without heat or electricity. It was a chilling reminder of the dangers of prioritizing short-term gains over long-term reliance and resilience. One of the most telling trends is the migration of the educated professionals and skilled workers from red states to blue states. The data now shows that states with restrictive policies on things like abortions are seeing declines in college educated residents and healthcare professionals. Doctors, particularly OBGYNs, are leaving states like Texas and Mississippi, where they think that the laws are draconian and they are suffering from the threat of legal repercussions, and they feel that it now makes it necessary and that they leave because it is increasingly difficult for them to practice medicine. Meanwhile, in high-skilled industries, they have gravitated towards blue states, drawn by better infrastructure, higher wages and more inclusive social policies. The results are red states are left with dwindling tax bases and a growing reliance on federal aid to sustain basic services.
Speaker 1:Conservatives often argue that red states are more affordable to live in than their blue counterparts. Comes at a cost Lower wages, fewer public schools and weaker safety nets mean that life in red states often cheaper because it is a worse place to live. The blue states have a higher cost of living, by contrast, because it reflects the economic vibrancy and the demand for access to the infrastructure, education system and job market. California, frequently derided by conservatives, boasts a GDP larger than most countries. His innovation and productivity stand in stark contrast to the economic stagnation of states like Mississippi, whose reliance on federal aid underscores their lack of self-sufficiency.
Speaker 1:The red state model is unsustainable. Their economics are built on borrowed time and the blue state's generosity, even as their leaders vilify the very systems that keep them afloat. Proposals for succession, a favorite fantasy of some conservative pundits would expose this fragility, leading to an economic collapse that Ayn Rand herself might find too grim to script. As younger, more educated workers continue to flee red states and federal aid becomes increasingly politicized, the gap between rhetoric and reality will only widen. Red state leaders can rail against immigrants, liberals and even drag queens, but their economic woes begin at home, in the very policies that they champion. There is an argument to be made that the blue states should reconsider how much they subsidize the red states. While cutting off federal aid may not be practical or ethical, it is worth exploring ways to hold red state leaders accountable for their reliance on blue state dollars. If red states actually want the independence that they so often champion, perhaps it's time they start paying for it and putting the money where their mouth is.