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's the author of Faith and the Ballot: A Christian's Guide to Voting, Unity, and Witness in Divided Times. He was born and raised in Jacksonville FL, and went to Edward H white High School,l 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, effectively ending his college wrestling journey. Darrell McClain is an Ordained Pastor under the Universal Life Church and is still in good standing as well as a Minister for the American Marrige Ministries . 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 Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under 6th-degree black belt Gustavo Machado, Darrell Trains At Gustavo Machado Norfolk under the 4th-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
Crime and Politics in DC
The line between political theater and public safety has never been more blurred than in President Trump's recent declaration of a "crime emergency" in Washington DC. Despite data showing violent crime at a 30-year low and homicides down 34% from 2023, the administration has invoked rarely-used powers to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department—a move Mayor Muriel Bowser calls "unsettling and unprecedented."
What happens when statistics contradict political narratives? We dig beneath the surface to examine what's really happening in our nation's capital. The numbers tell a compelling story: murders down from 274 in 2023 to 187 in 2024, carjackings decreased by 87%, and overall violent crime rates lower than during any year of Trump's first administration. Yet the administration's executive order explicitly claims crime is "rising" in the capital, setting a concerning precedent for federal intervention in locally-governed cities.
Beyond this high-profile takeover lies an equally troubling story receiving far less attention—the quiet diversion of $934 million from nuclear missile modernization funds to outfit a luxury Boeing 747 jet donated by Qatar. This aircraft, intended for Trump's use but unlikely to be ready until after his term ends, represents an alarming shift in national security priorities that's happening with minimal public scrutiny.
We also explore a moment of perfect irony: a Trump Burger restaurant owner in Texas facing deportation as an undocumented immigrant, highlighting the complex relationship between political identity and real-world consequences. These stories together paint a portrait of an America where perception often trumps reality, and where the implications for democracy demand our closest attention.
Join us as we cut through the rhetoric to understand what these developments mean for local governance, federal power, and the future of American democracy. Subscribe now and share your thoughts on these critical issues shaping our nation.
One of the things that we have seen over and over from the president, from his team. You know Stephen Miller saying it's like Baghdad and Ethiopia they seem to hold their harshest criticism sometimes for cities that are majority black and brown. Do you see that and what do you think that means?
Speaker 2:that I have been dealing kind of with this issue for a number of years. It's kind of easy fodder on the campaign trail, but now we're talking about governing and my job is to focus on making sure our city is running, is running well and people enjoy a great quality of life, and I think we're doing a really good job. We do need the federal government's help, as I mentioned, because they have an outsized influence on our criminal justice system. We need more prosecutors, we need more judges. There are other ways to help. Even we want to rebuild our jail and, uh, there, there are ways that the feds can help with that, but also just doing their part cutting the grass, fixing the fountains, making sure that federal law enforcement is doing all of the policing that they can do. And I just have to say thank you to mps, fbi, atf, who've always worked cooperatively with us and we expect that they will again.
Speaker 3:I should note that the most violent moment in recent history in DC was January 6th and it was an attack on the United States Capitol by a lot of people who were doing it in the name of Donald Trump, and it included the people who were hurt, included members of law enforcement.
Speaker 2:My message to residents is this we know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me and many, many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia. We are American citizens, our families go to war, we pay taxes and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship. And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented I can't say that, given some of the rhetoric of the past that we're totally surprised I can say to DC residents that we will continue to operate our government in a way that makes you proud. We will balance our budgets, we will deploy our services, our kids are going to start school on August 25th and we will work with the federal government to do the things that they should do for our city.
Speaker 1:There was a lot of deception from the president there, so here's a reality check. There is no doubt that DC has, for decades, been a high-crime city. It is among the US cities with the highest homicide rates, though there are a bunch of other big cities that are worse. And DC did indeed have a big crime spike in 2023, which is the year the president kept citing. But, contrary to what the president said today, even in 2023, dc did not have an all-time high in murder. It was way worse during the crack crisis of the 80s and early 90s. And, more pressingly, dana, the president was just flat wrong when he said it's getting worse now, not getting better.
Speaker 1:Crime in DC, including murder, has fallen sharply since that 2023 spike. It fell in 2024. It's fallen further in 2025. So let's look at some of this data. In 2023, dc had its most murders in more than two decades 274. Of course, that's terrible, but it then plunged to 187 murders last year and it's been falling again so far this year, through July. According to figures compiled by crime data expert Jeff Asher, dc has 34% fewer murders than it did through the same period in that year, 2023.
Speaker 1:Now how about violent crime more broadly? Well, that's also down sharply in the last year and a half. In fact, per Jeff Asher, dc's officially reported violent crime rate in 2024 was the second lowest since 1966, so lower than every year of Trump's administration. It's about a third of what it was in those bad old days that were in the 1990s. And you heard from the president and his team about carjackings. Well, indeed a problem in DC.
Speaker 1:But what do the numbers say? Again, a big spike in 2023, down, since Asher noted that 16 carjackings reported in July were the fewest reported in any month in more than five years in DC. Down more than 87 percent from the same month in 2023. So look, we know crime is an issue in DC. We've lived there. We know that every violent crime is a shame, a tragedy. Of course, not excusing any of them, but this isn't an ongoing crime spike, like President Trump suggested, and he said it's rising. Even in the text of the executive order I went through it the first section says crime is rising in the Capitol. That is just not true.
Speaker 2:As our home rule charter is also clear and the president's executive order restates, Chief Pamela Smith is the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department and its 3,100 members work under her direction. The Home Rule Charter requires the mayor to provide the services of MPD during special conditions of an emergency and we will follow the law, though there's a question about the subjectivity of that declaration. In fact, the chief has already provided a high-level liaison and point of contact with the federal government and made those initial contacts. The executive order is also clear that the president has delegated his authority to make requests of us to Attorney General Pam Bondi. I have reached out to Attorney General Bondi and hope to schedule a meeting school soon.
Speaker 4:The briefing, they gave us a packet of information to show us some of the arrests that were made over the weekend, as this starting to ramp up or increase in federal law enforcement took place, and they were fairly low-level criminals. It was somebody with possession or a DUI at one point and there were only five of them, I believe, listed in this packet. So it's unclear. You know he's talking about this major escalation in violent crime, but that is not quite clear from the packet of information they gave us here.
Speaker 1:We've been making these threats since last year and now he's carrying through with them. There's no reason to believe he won't go further. What do you say to the president about his threats to bring the military?
Speaker 2:We don't. We don't I think I speak for all Americans we don't believe or believe it's legal to use the American military against American citizens on American soil. I'm not a lawyer but I think that's a fairly widely held fact. But we've seen them move, I think, the active military into California. So it's a question. We've seen active military on the borders of DC some years ago and we don't believe that our military should be used against American citizens.
Speaker 5:Welcome to the Darrell McLean Show. We are back home in Virginia. Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one planet. Nobody is leaving. I miss you guys, and let us reason together on 469 episodes. We're in now, so welcome everyone. Welcome.
Speaker 5:Today we're going to examine President Trump's bold, controversial decision to federalize the DC police and deploy the National Guard. Now the president says it was actually necessary, and the president is saying it was necessary because of a spiraling out of control crime rate. But we have to ask ourselves is that really the case? Anytime a politician even the ones we like and the ones we don't like make a claim, we have to test it. So let's break this all down and so let's get some context and the legal framework. So on August, the 11th of 2025, president Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington DC, invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia House Rule Act. This particular act allows the president to place the Metropolitan Police Department to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Now, this is, of course, done without congressional intervention, and that is because this measure is allowed is allowed about every 48 hours or so, and the president is allowed, when I looked into it, to do this up to 30 days.
Speaker 5:Now Trump painted a dire picture, calling this city plagued by crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor. During what he called Liberation Day in DC, he framed it as a rescue mission for the nation's capital, signaling that similar action could also follow in places like New York, chicago and in California. Explicitly, he talked about Oakland. Now, so that was the claim. What is the reality? I think I want to say and here's the thing, and it does get somewhat interesting Crime in DC is actually declining. Violent crime in DC is actually declining. Violent crime in DC is down Now. Nbc and CBC site declines a roughly 26 to 35 percent in 2025 compared to the prior year. The FBI projects historically low murder rates nationally and DC murders and assaults have dropped meaningfully. In fact, dc has actually hit a 30 year low in violent crime in 2024.
Speaker 5:So local leaders blasted the move. Mayor Marion Bowser called it unsettling and unprecedented and said the District of Columbia will continue to govern the way residents expect. Democrats like Delegate Eleanor Holmes, norton and Attorney General Brian Schwab I think I pronounced that right labeled it unlawful and an assault on home rule. Civil rights groups condemned what they called authoritarian overreach. Donald Trump's actual old friend, but a civil rights leader over. I forgot what his thing is called. It's that, yeah, but anyway I want to say it's the Rainbow Coalition and that could be it, and that could be Jesse Jackson's thing I'll look it up later but anyway, the civil rights leader, donald Trump's old friend and NBC host and pastor, the Reverend Al Sharpton, called it the ultimate affront to justice. Even some residents saw it as a political theater. One actually noted it seemed like red meat thrown to the president's base.
Speaker 5:Critics warned about the legality of the matter. So while Section 740 actually grants the president's emergency power, many view this as a distraction of its intent, especially absent actual emergency condition. The commentary warns this could set a dangerous precedent for federalizing local law enforcement at will. Others question the effectiveness of demilitarization in reducing crime. Studies have shown that simply aiding a state or city by adding military-style interventions doesn't actually improve safety, and the studies also show that it can actually exasperate tensions. I kind of jokingly played with this when we talked about it a few months ago when this happened in California and I was you know, I'm more of a libertarian on the side of the aisle, leaky libertarian that is and I was talking to some of my conservative friends that I care about and I said I played with this term, but I kept calling them outside agitators, saying that they were coming into communities that care nothing about agitating the people and then being upset when the people you know, did things like throw rocks and be spit at police officers and it's you know, stuff like that?
Speaker 5:I'm not. It's obviously ridiculous when you assault police and things of that nature. But I kind of say, what do you think is going to happen if I came into your house and to your neighborhood federalize the whatever. And I don't think that the conservatives would have a very good reaction if Barack Obama was doing to them what Donald Trump is doing right now, if Barack Obama had said that Florida was out of control and took over the federal troops. You know we kind of takeover of DC police and deployment of the National Guard was portrayed as necessary to combat rampant crime. But the data doesn't actually support that narrative. When you consider that crime is falling, not rising, and local officials are pushing back hard, it actually raises serious questions about federal overreach, the erosion of local government and the political motives under the guise of public safety and not. Now that that was the strict analysis of it. Now here's the commentary background of it. So you don't have to be a Senate to actually see what's going on here, but it does kind of help.
Speaker 5:The president didn't Federalize the police in DC because the streets are running red with blood. The FBI's own data show the crime is down. Violent crime and murder is down. The city isn't perfect, but the crime emergency isn't there. The crime emergency is a political emergency of Trump's own making. When you really dig down into it, what this really seems to be about is about optics. It's about a man who understands that fear is the most reliable fuel in politics. If you can make people feel unsafe, even when they are statistically safer than they were last year, you can justify extraordinary measures, measures that make you look like a strong man riding in to save the day. It's also about laying groundwork. So let me lay this out for you If you can take over the police force in the nation's capital on a paper thin pretext, then you can do it in New York, you can do it in Chicago, you can do it in Oakland, you can do it in any city that doesn't politically align with you, and that isn't a crime strategy. It's a power strategy. The real emergency isn't on the streets, it is in the precedent it sets for democracy. And I'll tell you the truth what keeps me up at night isn't whether Trump fix DC. Especially it isn't if Trump fix DC's crime. It's the creeping normalization of federal muscle being flexed over local government when it suits the political narrative of the day, over local government, when it suits the political narrative of the day. That's not law and order. That's law as performers aren't and, like most political theater, the real show is happening offstage. So now it's Liberation Day in DC. Please, this wasn't liberation, it was a photo op with riot gear. The president didn't sweep in because the city's on the brink of collapse. He swept in because nothing sells in America, especially during an election cycle, like fear and a stage rescue.
Speaker 5:We have to be honest. Let's just be honest here. Crime in DC is down according to every statistic you can look at. The murder rate is down, assaults are down. But if you actually acknowledge that you can't ride in on a Humvee like you're auditioning for Saving Private Riley, so you inflate the danger, slap the words crime, emergency on it and suddenly boom, you're the hero in your own made-for-TV law and order movie.
Speaker 5:And here's the kicker. This isn't about DC at all. This is a test run. You get it, folks, because there used to be an idea that you could take over cities by police force anytime you want, but not here. That was in third world authoritarian countries. You expect that in Russia, you expect that in Venezuela, you'd expect that from Maduro, you'd expect that from Kim Jong Un or something. But now, if you and I get used to the idea that in the United States, you're allowed to take over a city's police force anytime you declare a disaster and pretty soon you keep doing that you're going to be watching as you'll start to see it more. You'll start to see it more. We already saw it in California and I have to remind us, president Trump has only been president for six months Already. We saw it in California and now here is DC, and it will eventually be New York and Chicago and Oakland, and it will happen in any city where any sitting president finds a mayor that they don't like. This isn't a crackdown on crime. This is political theater with live ammunition and, like most political theater, the audience is supposed to forget. The script was written before the curtain even went up. But we have to see the script, and if you think this was about making the streets safe, you are not watching the movie. You're in it. You are not watching the movie, you're in it.
Speaker 5:I have lived in the District of Columbia. Me and Gene live there, and I remember going to a Safeway that was by the apartment and I remember standing there being fascinated that I was in D and I was going to be living there and I watched as somebody came in and went into a store, stole goods and walked right out and I was amazed that nobody's stopped the person. And I remember standing there almost like a human nature thing, and I was standing there thinking why should I pay for my stuff if this guy is just going to run out and steal the whole store? And I'm a fairly decent person, I like to think but what if somebody is not a decent person? Or let's say, for all intents and purposes, they were a decent person who was on really hard economic times? The more you allow that type of behavior to happen, the more you give people the incentive to continue that type of behavior.
Speaker 5:And because there is a perception that the people who are in charge in DC do not do anything about it and it can be argued that they are doing the correct anything about it, and it can be argued that they Aren't doing the correct thing about it, when people like Donald Trump come in and they do what we perceive as the wrong thing about it. We complain and we murmur and we're upset Because we don't like the optics. So my criticism here is this this all came in part due to the fact that there was a staffer the pejorative that he goes by is Big Boss. He's part of the Doge staff. Apparently he was trying to stop somebody from being assaulted or something and he was beat up, and I have seen some stories that there was an alleged alleged carjacking and so, of course, that got back to the White House and the president used that as a pretext to say that this is DC is out of control. Yet you know, you have had reports of even senators and congressmen getting carjacked in the District of Columbia, failing to do anything. Are the correct things to stop the problems to where even congressmen and senators and DC staffers are not getting assaulted and robbed?
Speaker 5:And if you can go to the District of Columbia and see homeless encampments and you walk up the street and you don't seem, it doesn't seem safe. It doesn't seem safe Even though you can statistically point to a piece of paper that shows well, it's actually better than it was in 2023. And it's actually better than it was in 2024. And it's actually a 30-year low and it's actually not even the most worst city that it's happening. It doesn't matter, because the locals will say look, I'm tired of being afraid to go to the store. I'm tired of being harassed in the street by you know people. I'm tired of this guy defecating in my, in my front yard. I'm tired of going to the store and everything being locked because there's rampant theft. I'm tired of me going to work in busing my tail and paying for my stuff and it being no penalty for the person who is stealing. If they happen to steal under a thousand dollars worth of goods, why am I going to continuously do correct If there is no punishment for people who are doing wrong? I see it from both sides of this coin.
Speaker 5:Dc is not a state. It should have stated. I argued for years that DC should not a state. It should have stayed that. I argued for years that DC should be a state. But I have to say this, and I say this for any city if, when you are in charge, if when you are in legislating, if there are problems and you are not addressing the problem directly, if there are problems and you are not addressing the problem directly, then when your opposition? Since we live in a country where we have opposition parties comes to power, they are going to address the problem in ways you do not like, and even in ways that I may not like. The problem is, you had the opportunity to fix the problem and you did so. As bad as you think it is, as bad as it may be, as much as I may recognize it, this all political theater. I may recognize that this is all political theater. I also recognize there are people with policies that they put in place to leave the door wide open for this political theater to be possible. Be right back with more on the Darrell McLean show. Welcome back to the Darrell McLean show.
Speaker 5:Now here is a headline that I actually could not make up if I tried. Trump burger co-owner in houston facing deportation and no, this isn't satire, this is not the onion. It is not one of those facebook memes that your uncle post at 2 am. This is straight from the World War file, where I already packs a punch and comes to work overtime. The man's name is Roland Merez Baini, 28 years old, a national Lebanese I'm sorry, I guess I should say a Lebanese national and he came to the United States in 2019 on a non-immigrant visitor visa. Now, that type of visa is one of those where you're supposed to enjoy some sightseeing check out the Grand Canyon, and then here's the big one You're supposed to leave when the visa expires. The only problem is his visa expired in February of 2024.
Speaker 5:And instead of going home, ice says he decided Texas was too good to give up. Even better, they allege he attempted to secure his stay through a fake marriage, which immigration officials investigated, saw as fraudulent and then voided. Now that's a hard legal strike one. And just to spice things up, there was also an assault charge in the mix. Hard legal strike number two. Now let's just add a twist.
Speaker 5:The man co-owns a restaurant called Trump Burger. Yes, a burger joint decked out in a full shrine to Donald John Trump, maga colors, pro-trump posters everywhere, even menu items itself named after the president. You walk in to this Trump burger restaurant and it is basically a campaign rally with fries. The irony is so thick you could spread it like ketchup, and here is where it gets fascinating, but also uncomfortable.
Speaker 5:The politics around immigration in the Trump era and in the post-Trump era have been laser focused on a tone of nothing but tough exceptions for no one. Deport them all. No excuses, no sympathy. The political culture birthed places like Trump Berger is built on the idea that the illegal alien is public enemy number one. And yet here we are. The corner of a brand is, according to ICE, exactly what the brand's political icon warned us about. What the brand's political icon warned us about If this was a movie script and I pitched this to Hollywood, if I pitched this to Netflix, a producer would have thrown it out.
Speaker 5:They would have told me you need to go write something else, darrell, look, that is too on the nose. But reality has no shame about writing plot twists that make everybody squirm. I want to be careful here, because real life is not a meme. Real life is not a gotcha. Immigration law is complicated, people are complicated and people's reasons for staying in a country, especially the United States of America, illegally can range from the desperate to the selfish, and I don't want to paint everybody under the same brush. Some people come here because they have legitimate humanitarian needs and other people come out of sheer stubbornness. But the optics for this case a Trump-themed business in a state like Texas, run in part by someone now fighting deportation Well, that theme the jokes everything it writes itself. So this is also a teaching moment about politics and the politics of belonging.
Speaker 5:I would say specifically, america has a very strange relationship when it comes to immigrants. We love the idea of immigration, we love the idea of the Statue of Liberty. Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor, your huddled masses. We love the idea of immigrants, especially when they're building our roads. We love the idea of immigrants when they're staffing our kitchens and cleaning our hotel rooms. But we have a habit of turning on immigrants when it comes to political rhetoric. It's a we like you when you serve us, but not when you stay, kind of attitude. And too often even immigrants who buy into hard right immigration politics think that they have to do that as a shield for themselves and they do it to shield themselves from the system's blade. But the blade has no favorites. It cuts whoever the law says it can cut whoever the law says it can cut. Ronald Beeney, who was arrested by ICE in May of this year, bomb was granted in June. His immigration hearing is scheduled for November, the 18th 2025. Until then, he's a free man, but his future in the United States is very much in question.
Speaker 5:I would say this Whether you cheer for this news or lament on the facts of this news says more about your politics than it does about Ronald Bonini. At the end of the day, this story isn't about a guy running a novelty burger shop. It's about the coalition between personal identity, political branding and the coal machinery of an immigration system. When you attach your business, your image and your livelihood to a political figure whose policies directly target the demographic you belong to, you, my friend, are playing a very dangerous game and sometimes, and I even dare say most of the time, the House wins. So Ronald Beeney now waits for the gavel to fall in November, waits for the gavel to fall in November. Trump Burger will keep serving up patties with a side of politics. And for the rest of us, we get a reminder that American irony isn't dead. It just may be overcooked. Right back with more of the Darrell McLean channel. We're coming out swinging today.
Speaker 5:Guys, I want to say if you, if you, um, are a listener and you have some segments that you are interested in and and, and you think that I would be um, it would serve the show if I discuss the segment um, send me the segment and um, and I'll definitely take a look at it and see if it's something that I could do something with. If I don't cover it for a full segment on the show, I will definitely, out of respect for my audience, mention it, maybe read it without commentary. If you think that it's something that you agree with that you think I may have some disagreements on, send me the segment article or whatnot. You could put your opinion on top of it and I will leave your name out of it unless you have given me permission to say your name. I will leave your name out of it unless you have given me permission to say your name and I'll discuss whether we're kind of read what you said. Read whether I, whether I think it's correct or not.
Speaker 5:You can do that with me on Patreon. I am on Patreon, patreon I think it's Patreon slash Darrell McClain. You can do it on the Darrell McLean Facebook page. You can do it on. I have I do have a LinkedIn. I don't know how the LinkedIn updates work, but you can do it on LinkedIn, instagram, on the Darrell McLean and I have a Patreon. And if you go to listen to the show on Buzzsprouts, the Buzzsprouts actually has a really cool feature where you can text. You can, you can. You can text on Buzzsprouts, you can go to your phone, send a text to the Darrell McLean show, and I actually get those text messages, um, and I can see what get feedback. That's actually something fairly new that I, that they offered and I did sign up for, so that is pretty cool.
Speaker 5:So we're going to get right back into it, my friends, and we're going to, we're going to tell you to do something. Here, you got to pull up a chair, you got to pour your coffee. Um, here, you got to pull up a chair, you got to pour your coffee. Or, if you like me and you are reading the headlines and it gave you high blood pressure and you're a recovering sailor, you may have to do, uh, pour something a bit stronger. Uh, for your libations, because what I'm about to walk you through is well, the kind of story that forces you to decide whether to laugh, cry or to throw the whole damn tv out the window. So and that is this golden jet problem and the price tag and by the tag, let me go ahead and throw this out to you the $934 million price tag. That's your money, folks. That's my money.
Speaker 5:You ever notice how the worst scandals are the ones that no one talks about. The worst scandals are the ones that no one talks about. The worst scandals are the ones that are buried in bureaucratic language. They're hidden under a stack of classified memos, quietly signed off by people who hope. You and me are too distracted, maybe by football season, maybe by the latest celebrity divorce, maybe by our family, maybe our, you know, we are distracted, maybe our church, anything. We are too distracted to notice that's what they hope. We're too distracted to notice that's what they hope.
Speaker 5:Well, this one even almost slipped by me. As somebody who's a dork who pays attention to this stuff. This almost slipped under my radar. And it starts with the American ground-based nuclear missile program, ground-based missile nuclear missile program, and this is what we have called for a long time Minuteman, and I think Minuteman number three would be this one. So these things are sitting underground in the Dakotas, the Wyomis and the Monotamas. Each one gets a nuclear warhead capable of leveling a city. They're old, really old. Some of these silos were built back when we had black and white TV. Now the plan was to replace these aging missiles with a new system called Sentinel, more modern, more reliable, more safe, and this is not some optional luxury. This is part of a nuclear triad that's supposed to make potential adversaries think twice before starting trouble with the United States of America. So what happened? What did the Pentagon do with nearly a billion dollars earmarked for this type of modernization? They moved quietly into something called Unnamed Classified Project.
Speaker 5:Now if you're like me, who had the pleasure of working for the federal government For a long time, and If you have been around Long enough, you know Washington code and you know that was Washington code, for we're doing something that we don't want to explain Because we know, if you know, you're going to get angry. Sure enough, investigative reporters started digging. I was reading the New York Times and David Sanger and Eric Schmidt connected the dots and the Congressional Budget Watchers confirmed their rumors. The classified project was, in fact, the Boeing 747 jet donated by Qatar. But that donated word is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, because, while the Qatari government provided the airframe, you and I suites and a custom interior that would make any oligarchs blush, this is the plane Trump's intends to use as Air Force One during his remaining time in office. But here's the kicker the plane is not going to be ready until after the president leaves and then, after he leaves, he plans to keep the Trump for him, to keep the plane for Trump's presidential library. You know the presidential library, that Trump presidential library, the one that doesn't exist Now.
Speaker 5:When reporters were asked about this and they went and asked the Air Force for details, they got the same answers over and over again Sorry, classified, they couldn't talk about the cost. They couldn't talk about the upgrades. Classified, they can't talk about anything. Zip Zitch, no, nothing. But here's the part that's almost funny if it wasn't so infuriating. Senior Air Force officials privately admitted to people like me, journalists yes, we're taking the money from the Nuclear Modernization Fund to pay for it. So much for secrecy. They're not even denying it, they're just hoping no one cares enough to make a fuss about it.
Speaker 5:Everybody knows I'm a fan of the people who are witty the George Orwells, the Oscar Wiles, the Christopher Hitchens, the Gore Vidal's, the William F Buckley's. You know I like witty, funny people. I just somewhat imagine that if Vidal, hitchens, orwell, oscar Wilde were alive today, that they would. I could hear them, you know, saying something like that. So the safety of the nation's nuclear arsenal is being sacrificed and reupholstered seating and gold place fixtures, and this is filed under the national defense. I say it's more of the defense of a man's vanity. That's what I think they'd say. And this is what you call state theft. Not in the legal sense, though, frankly, if you got me fired up enough I'd probably even debate you on that. But I'll just say, in a moral sense, this is state theft. You took taxpayers money meant for national survival and you spent it on a flying monument to yourself.
Speaker 5:The symbolism of all this is just too perfect. Picture this In the American heartland missile silos rust quietly in the wind, the steel corroding, the electronics outdated. The maintenance teams are doing their best that they can, with the equipment older than they are. The equipment is actually the age of their grandfather. And somewhere else in a secure hangar, workers are polishing gold plating onto the nose of a jet. I think I say this a lot. You know. Say it again. You know. If I were to pitch this to Hollywood, they'd reject it for being too on the nose. It's like Orwell's Animal Farm the barn roof leaks, but the pigs just ordered another chandelier.
Speaker 5:Now let me get serious for a moment about why this is a national security issue. The Minuteman III was first deployed in 1970. That's over half of a century ago. The engineers who built this. They are retired and telling stories to their grandchildren or they are dead. Every year the risk of critical failure grows.
Speaker 5:This isn't about keeping up with the Joneses. This is about making sure the most dangerous weapons in the world don't malfunction at the worst possible time. Shaving a billion dollars off that program is not just irresponsible, it is dangerous. But isn't this Trump's playbook? Of course, this is a classic Trump.
Speaker 5:Trump has always been about optics, the gold trim the marble, the bragging. He was bragged about having a personal Boeing 757 with 24-7 carrot seat buckles. So, of course, when he was presented with a gift from Qatar, he saw an opportunity. Let's make it the most luxurious plane in history and let's get the taxpayers to foot the bill. And this isn't new. This is nothing new. The Shah of Iran had golden bathrooms. Idi Amin had fleets of Rolls Royces. Muammar Gaddafi had a private jet with a custom throne.
Speaker 5:Trump's twist is that he's not playing with oil money or looted treasuries. He is paying with this, with funds meant to maintain America's nuclear defense, which might be the most on-brand America of 2025 thing that I can imagine, besides alligator alcatraz in my home state of Florida. Thankfully, some in Congress are trying to slam the brakes. Elizabeth Warren, tammy Duckworth, ed Markey, adam Schiff, jamie Raskin, john Greenwood have sent letters demanding explanations. John Greenwood have sent letters demanding explanations. They've given the Pentagon until August 20th to spill the details. Republicans have joined in as well and are muttering concerns, but most are keeping their heads down because in the grand old party of 2025, crossing Trump means you have to be willing to retire, because crossing Trump at this moment is career suicide.
Speaker 5:But here is the bigger problem, and here's what really worries me is that I'm actually not shocked anymore. If this happened 20 years ago, it would dominate every front page in the country for a month, but now it's so much of a blip. I had to just be sitting in California reading a lot of stuff while my friend James was at work, and I just happened to see it. Did you hear about this at the coffee shop? Is anybody talking about this at work? Did you see this in your newsfeed? Did you see about this at the coffee shop? Is anybody talking about this at work? Did you see this in your newsfeed? Did you see this anywhere? Maybe, but I doubt it. We have normalized this type of absurdity. We have turned government corruption into background noise.
Speaker 5:The Golden Jet isn't just about President Trump. The Golden Jet isn't just about President Trump. It's about a political culture where personal indulgences trumps national duty. It's about a Pentagon that will quietly shuffle nearly a billion dollars away from missile safety and not expect anyone to notice. And guess what? I didn't hear a lot of outrage about it. I'm online all the time. I got political brain rot. I didn't see it like the outrage that it is. Or is it just another Tuesday in America? Because if you can read the nuclear budget for Gold Trim and still keep your job, what else can you get away with? That's the question we should all be asking.
Speaker 5:Thank you for tuning in. I'm going to play a audio clip from our amazing segment that I love to do blast from the international, the international. Blast from the intellectual past. Maybe I should find an international person to play for our segment. Blast from the intellectual past. Maybe I should find an international person to play for our segment. Blast for the intellectual past. And after that I hope to see you on the next episode. Thank you for tuning in. As always, we have one planet, nobody is leaving, and let us reason together.
Speaker 6:From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest, but for us it's different. Consider again that dot, that's here, that's home, that's us On it. Everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone. You ever heard of every human being who ever was, lived out their lives, the aggregate of our joy and suffering. Thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines. Every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there on the moat of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they can become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another.
Speaker 6:In the next episode we'll see how the by this point of pale light, our planet is a lonely speck in the great, enveloping cosmic dark, in our obscurity. In all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes, settle. Not yet, like it or not. For the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
