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Start to form in the Democrat shutdown as some are beginning to admit they might be hurting people. A blue state governor begs for people to return to help fund their over expanded welfare system. And the gaffe of all gaffes from Texas Senate Democrat candidate James Talarico. All of that and so much more today on 10 Minute Drill. Everybody get up. Get up. The story of America is the story of an adventure.
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I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you.
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We are a nation under God, and
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I believe God intended for us to be free.
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Earlier this week, we talked about the fact that NATO and a lot of our European allies have been a little bit wary of helping with President Trump's call to help maintain the Strait of Hormuz. Yesterday, Mark Ruda, Secretary general of NATO, spoke out about that.
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When it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, I have been in contact with many allies. We all agree, of course, that strait has to open up again. And what I know is that allies are working together discussing how to do that.
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I've said for a long time, though, that I think Mark Ruda, secretary General of NATO, is one of the most important diplomats in the world because he does such a good job bridging the gap between President Trump and some of the European leaders that he has a less warm relationship with, like Emmanuel Macron from France. But the comments from some NATO country leaders, like Germany's Friedrich Mears, that this conflict in Iran had nothing to do with NATO has sparked a larger discussion about relevance. There's a very good debate being had about whether keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is more relevant to NATO or helping Ukraine defeat Russia is more relevant to the United States. There's a very good argument to make that the situation in Iran is very relevant to NATO and the situation in Ukraine is very relevant to the United States. But the European countries have been putting a lot of demands on the United States for more funding and more support for Ukraine. So it's a little bit rich to now see them say the the conflict happening in Iran, which is in the backyard of so many different NATO countries, is not relevant to them. The Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security continues to be a major political problem for them. This came up in a major Senate hearing yesterday. This is Bernie Moreno from Ohio. We have 260,000 families that have not received the paycheck in over a month. Axios reported that cracks are starting to form among Democrats. It's not forcing any change, said Rep. Don Byer, Democrat from Virginia. In the meantime, we're making people hurt the long lines that can't make us more popular. So that from buyers getting a lot of attention because Democrats are admitting one they are actually hurting people and they're hurting the wrong people. When you talk about 260,000 people impacted by TSA not getting paychecks because Democrats are protesting ice, Democrats have tried to do a few different sort of we think you're stupid gambits like saying actually it's Republicans fault. Here is Michigan Senator, soon to be retired Jerry Peters.
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But Republicans are going to hold TSA hostage. They're going to hold Coast Guard hostage, they're going to hold fema, cisa, they're going to hold it all hostage because they don't want to give any ground.
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Republicans are going to hold TSA hostage is one of the dumber things that I've heard from Democrats in a long time. When they shut down dhs, they all went on record and said we are happy to shut this down. And many of them are now trying to sort of do these piecemeal messaging resolutions to say, actually we want to fund TSA but not the rest, or we want to fund, you know, Coast Guard but not the rest. The problem is these all work together to keep the homeland secure. That came up in the confrontation between Greg Caster and John Cornyn when Caster was trying to argue, actually we do want to fund individual small pieces of this. But the problem that Cornyn pointed out is all those pieces work together holistically to protect the homeland. And the terror attack that had happened just miles away from where they were standing in downtown Austin happened in part because our Homeland Security apparatus is hobbled, because Democrats are doing a very dumb protest. They can pick and choose and try and fund and defund different things, but the one thing that we all know is they can't actually impact ice, which is what they really want to deal with, because that's funded until 2029. And so until they figure out they're not actually gonna make any headway with this and they continue to feel the pain of hurting so many people when not going to see an end of this shutdown anytime soon. One thing we've talked about quite a bit on 10 minute drill is the terrible value proposition that people living in blue states get. They pay higher taxes for poorer and worse government services. New York Governor Kathy Hochul spoke about this in an event just this week.
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And being conscious of the fact that I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our State right now there are some patriotic millionaires who stepped up, okay, cut me the checks if you want to be supportive. But maybe the first step should be go down to Palm beach and see who you can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded. So I feel soft. We don't have a problem. It is like I have to look at the fact that we are in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden.
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What a tell. There is a lot to unpack in that statement. First, saying cut me the checks is a very interesting way that Democrats think about how tax dollars work. She also talks about their generous social programs. The problem is, if this was just supporting generous social programs, I think some people would feel comfortable with the incredibly high taxes they're paying. What we've learned is that in every single one of these blue states, there's actually billions of dollars in fraud. The Democrats don't want to deal with this. But the other thing that's so interesting about this is she's asking for people to come back from Florida who have left for greener pastures where they're paying lower taxes and in many cases having a better quality of life, either because there's less government or because the government's actually working more efficiently. So between Kathy Hochul, Gavin Newsom, J.B. pritzker, all of these blue state governors who are spending more and more money while losing more and more people, eventually they're simply going to run out of other people's money to spend. Our friends at Defending Education have found another incredible document related to teachers unions and their politics. This from Fox News. Leaked Teachers Union K12 training presentation Rails Against Trump Administration and Red States the National Education association and all of these large teachers unions are one of the most important political operations Democrats have at their beck and call. And what we find from so many of these presentations is they're not about anything to do with educating kids or helping them learn to read and write. They're about helping teachers unions maintain political power. And that's what this training from Defending education found. The NEA event on February 23, billed as an advocacy and free speech rights for K12 educators training, promoted a variety of leftist causes and criticisms of the Trump administration. In slides obtained by Defending Education, a national organization that monitors political content in schools. This training goes through a number of what they consider to be free speech opportunities from teachers. It deals with things like what to say if a student or parent asks you about the Pride flag or Black Lives Matter flag in your office. But it also does things like try and charge and empower teachers politically to say things like President Trump and his administration are threatening democracy. They also train teachers to be aware of the fact that they might be getting filmed if they do crazy things now, and specifically cite libs of TikTok in her videos for putting teachers on blast. In every case that she put them on blast, it was because they were doing crazy things. But the teachers unions want to sort of help people navigate around that just a little bit better to hide their radicalism. They also talk about things like pronouns and the fact that teachers need to carefully navigate, but should also have, according to this training, a free speech right to use whatever pronouns they want to use for students. Throughout the training they talk about the current Department of Education, which is basically eliminated to empower states to better control and support education. They call it an attack on civil rights. Now for me, as a parent of small children, I would love it if teachers unions were supporting teachers in helping kids learn how to spell civil rights instead of just making up lies about people taking them away. One thing we've been talking about quite a bit on 10 minute drill is the importance of energy dominance, particularly in the wake of so many bad energy policies that hobbled countries around the world, but also a lot of American states because they got rid of their access to reliable energy sources like oil and G to try and develop the ability to rely on wind and solar, which simply hasn't worked out for people. But one important angle to this is both national security but also America's role in the world in terms of innovation. And one thing that does rely heavily on reliable energy is AI. Big Tech Needs Trump's Energy Agenda By Steve Malloy the fly in the ointment right now is that both Big Tech and utilities have been surprised by its energy requirements, which are more than our grid can easily accommodate. Since AI is Big Tech's baby, it's going to have to lead on solving the energy problem. We're in a new era of substantial economic growth made possible by AI and the essential reindustrialization of America. Big Tech needs to put its unparalleled resources to work to make it happen. Now what Steve's getting at there is Big Tech to a lot of people and might not be the most sympathetic industry. But in order to maintain America's dominance in the world, particularly economically, being able to stay ahead of tech and innovation does require us to have the kind of energy needed for our tech innovators to stay ahead, for our AI development to continue to proceed. So this will be a Very important thing. But it's one of the reasons you're seeing places like Silicon Valley start to look a little bit more at Republicans than they have in the past, as Democrats have done everything they can to turn off the lights and make it more difficult to grow, innovate and succeed. For our you can't make it up segment today, we go back to Texas Senate Democrat candidate James Tallarico, who has been a constant stream of incredible content. And as I've said before, if Republicans are trying to cook up a candidate in a lab that we wanted to run against, this is what it would look like. Here's his latest.
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We have, I think, heard more and more issues of animal welfare. I think not just because it's the right thing to do and the moral thing to do, but also it's, as all of you know, necessary to fight climate change. It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption and that we try to respect animals in all aspects of society. And so I, I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non meat campaign. So we have, we are, we are only buying vegan products from, from our local vegan businesses.
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We are only buying vegan products. This guy is running in Texas and has already attacked the oil and gas industry, one of the biggest employers in the state. And now, now he's going after your meat. I cannot imagine somebody worse suited to run for Senate in the great state of Texas than a guy who, one is against oil and gas, two went vegan to help animals and also to fight climate change, who thinks God is non binary, who thinks there are six genders, who thinks we need abortion care for our trans friends. And as you saw last week, he doubled down on it. He doesn't walk back any of this stuff. He just wishes he had hidden it a little bit better. Well, here's my response to Mr. Talarico. Those are two steaks that I cooked last weekend that were incredible. And I would encourage Mr. Tallarico to have a few more of those that he doesn't feel like he needs to, to sit in the corner and cry so much about his masculinity.
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No need to sit and cry over, you know, your whiteness or your masculinity.
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That is all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us on 10 minute drill. Please, like, subscribe, leave us a review, tell your friends and have a great day.
Host: Matt Whitlock
Episode: "Hochul says quiet part out loud; Dems admit shutdown is hurting wrong people; teachers unions prep for midterms"
Date: March 19, 2026
This fast-paced episode of the 10 Minute Drill, hosted by political strategist Matt Whitlock, delves into the week’s biggest political stories: cracks forming in the ongoing Democrat-led shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s candid admissions about the state’s financial issues, K-12 teachers union political activities gearing up for the midterms, the intersection of energy policy and AI, and a viral gaffe from Texas Senate Democrat candidate James Talarico. Whitlock offers sharp commentary with a blend of exasperation and humor, highlighting key quotes and memorable moments from politicians and policy makers.
Don Byer admitting harm from the shutdown:
"We're making people hurt, the long lines. That can't make us more popular." (02:37)
Kathy Hochul on recruiting tax base back:
"Maybe the first step should be go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded." (04:37)
Talarico’s Vegan Campaign Announcement:
"I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non meat campaign. So we are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses." (10:40)
Whitlock’s assessment of Talarico:
"He just wishes he had hidden it a little bit better. Well, here's my response... Those are two steaks that I cooked last weekend..." (11:37)
This episode is a rapid-fire, sharply opinionated tour through the week’s political flashpoints, from the practical consequences of the ongoing DHS shutdown to deeper issues of state governance, education politics, technological growth, and the importance of messaging (and missteps) on the campaign trail. Whitlock brings humor and pointed criticisms, making it accessible and entertaining for listeners looking to understand both headlines and underlying dynamics.