B (4:54)

I agree with you. And listen, like, for me, January 6th is a very personal experience because I was there, and I almost died at the hands of these, you know, brainwashed, violent maga, you know, whatever you want to call them. And I'm not a heartless person in that I can't recognize the fact that a person like Ashley Babbitt was lied to by the former president at that time, Donald Trump, now president, and convinced that what she was doing was right. That being said, you know, Ashley Babbitt was an adult, and she is responsible for her actions. And her actions were not just wrong, but they were really wrong. And she should not be afforded these honors that, you know, should be reserved for people who have upheld their oath to the Constitution and who not only served in a way that would afford them that honor, but continued to live their lives in accordance with the oath that they took to the Constitution, which she clearly did not do. That Being said, I mean, everything that this administration has done since January 20, beginning with the presidential pardons for everyone who participated in that dark stain on our history that was January 6th, you know, has shown, again, that their willingness to align themselves with violent extremists and really flip the script in that I was the enemy, you know, I am guilty in their minds of treason for doing my job that day and that those that stormed the Capitol, they're the heroes in that story.

A (6:49)

Yeah. It is amazing to me that at the same time, the Trump administration does things like pardon all 1500 of the people who were charged and convicted of attacking and including violent attacks on January 6th. They also are attempting to, you know, like, lower felony prosecutions against, like, a dude who throws a sandwich and stuff like that. Right. And they've. They failed these. It's again, it's this weird, like, hold on, what's going on here? I guess one of my questions for you is put aside, what should be, like, in the world of, like, law enforcement, in military communities. Are any of them, like, are people going to look at that, this and say, man, that's messed up. This isn't how it's supposed to be? Or, like, does this just not register? Like, do they, do the people in law enforcement, the military communities, do you think look at National Guard being sent in to do trash pickup in Washington and used as props and think, this is messed up? Or are they like, yeah, no, no, it's cool. Like, what.

B (8:01)

I mean, it's a mixed bag. I. I was actually out in D.C. yesterday. I talked to a couple National Guards members, and they were just super excited to be out and about in uniform. But, you know, these guys are like 19, 20 years old, and they don't get, like, they're not, they don't understand the moment. They don't understand the implication of the moment. They don't understand the resentment of the community. You know, they see it as, you know, at face value, which is like, oh, we're here to clean up Washington, D.C. you contrast that with, like, some of my friends that are older, wiser combat veterans who are like, this is disgusting. It's disgusting that you're taking, you know, service members regardless. But, you know, National Guard members that are, you know, supposed to be there for catastrophic events to help their community or potentially be brought up into active duty service and sent overseas, like so many have, and they're out there doing gardening and trash pickup. There are some that recognize the, you know, the insanity of it. And the same thing in the law enforcement Community. I mean, unfortunately, you know, I didn't always have this enlightened viewpoint that I have now. When I was a cop, I was deeply immersed in the law enforcement echo chamber. And so I only looked at things from the perspective of a police officer. And I think many police officers that are currently serving under this federal takeover see it in the same way that I probably would have as a police officer, which is they have had an adversarial relationship with both the community and the city council and they see this takeover as finally we get, we're in charge now. And without recognizing the fact that how dangerous that is and how destructive it is to the relationship between their agency, which they represent and the community that they're charged with keeping safe and how that is going to resonate for years and years and years to come. And I tell these guys all the time, like, I was there, you know, in 2020 and, and I, you know, I endured the, the Summer of Love, the Black Lives Matter protests and the violence between law enforcement and, you know, and protesters. And I told, you know, everybody said, oh, like everyone hates us. Everyone hates us. And I tell them now, like, you think everybody hated you then. Like everyone really hates you now because they see how quickly you were co opted into this, you know, authoritarian takeover and how willing, willing you were to participate in it without any pushback whatsoever. And that, you know, it's a hard, it's a hard thing to, to get across to, to police officers today. It's a hard thing to get across to my former colleagues in D.C. that listen, like, yes, crime is going down because you have cops that are out there all over the place, but at what cost? And do you, you know, and flip, flip the script because inevitably the, you know, the pendulum will swing in the other direction. How would you feel if, you know, a Democrat came in and said, I don't like the way that your community police officers are handling crime in your neighborhoods. And so we are going to dramatically change the way that they do things and I'm going to take over the police department. I wasn't elected. You know, in your community, I don't represent your values, but I'm going to decide how things are done. It's anti American and I mean, unfortunate, you know, but, but that's what's, I mean, that's what's going on in Washington.

A (12:00)

D.C. yeah, you know, that point you made about the young guys and the guard is so good because if you're 19 years old right now, Trump is all you've ever known, right? I mean, we've been living in the Trump age since you were 10. Like, you, you, you just view all this stuff as like, not as an aberration, but that just is like, well, that's, that's the America, you know. And I, right before we came on, something crossed the wires. New York Magazine is reporting that Trump was not happy with the Army's military parade, that he thought it was not up to what he had expected to be. So he's going to have the Navy do a military parade for him in D.C. next. And I just, you know, I think about the reaction we had to the first military parade. The idea like, hey, all of a sudden this looks like red square in 1985, you know, with. And, you know, like by the time the next one comes around, people are just gonna be like, oh, I mean, that's just what we are in America. We're, we're a country that like puts the, the, the Dear Leader on a reviewing stand and has the military march by him for his amusement. And, you know, it's not out of the ordinary. That's just a Tuesday.

B (13:10)

That's the point. But it, it does. Like I like to say that absolutely nothing shocks me anymore. Coming from a 20 year career in law enforcement and then having the experiences that I've had, you know, as a witness to January 6, someone who lived through it and then testified about it, and seeing the nation's reaction to that. But this is, you know, this, the nation's willingness to allow this to become normal is really striking to me. People's willingness to just. I was out in Union Station yesterday, just kind of observing, and you've got armored vehicles and people commuting every day and just kind of walking by it oblivious as if it was, this is how it's been all along. And that to me is a scary thing.

A (14:04)

Yeah, Michael, thanks for being with us, guys. Follow the channel. We're gonna keep following this rocket sled to hell. Good luck, America.