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Progressive Political Commentator
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a showboater and a grandstander with zero experience that thinks he's playing army. And this is a guy who I think he's has something like seven kids. Kids. He's married and then he had an affair on somebody and then knocked her up and so on and so on. And he wants to preach to everybody about family values and Judeo Christian values and nauseating with his preacher talking about women losing the right to vote. This is how incompetent and how little of a shit Trump gives about the military or national security that he puts this guy, who by all accounts everybody says is an untreated alcoholic in charge of the United States military and its massive budget and its millions of employees. All right, so they killed, they're indiscriminately killing people in the Caribbean and it's getting leaked that they're doing this. And basically the they fired on a boat with no evidence that these people were drug traffickers. They don't care if they're drug traffickers or not. There were two survivors Pete Heth ordered after that, quote, kill them all, which is against the law, rules, etc. And so now the White House, because this is going to get really dicey. It has bipartisan investigative desires. And so the White House is blaming Hegseth and the Hill is reporting. The White House confirms Hegseth authorized second strike on the drug boat. And then Hegseth Kylie put up this next tweet, is blaming an admiral. And he says, let's make one thing crystal clear. Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him on the combat decisions he has made on the September 2nd mission and all other sense. America is fortunate to have such men protecting us. When this at Department of War says we have the back of our warriors, we mean it. So Basically what he just did there is he threw his own admiral under the bus completely, but also said he had his back. And because he knows it's going to be bracelets in a jail cell for Hegseth over this. So he's already throwing a career military person under the bus when that person was following Hegseth orders. I think he says days at DOD are numbered. What do you think? Pumps.
I don't think they're numbered unless the Senate and Congress go after him to impeach it. Because Trump loves having him in that position. He'll do whatever the fuck he wants. He wants to militarize cities, swing for the fences. He does what Donald Trump says, says. But now we understand all the backlash we got last week from the right because the Democratic leadership that was former military said you do not have to follow illegal orders. And it was meltdown central because they're giving illegal orders and everybody knows it. The least surprising thing about this whole thing is Donald Trump throws everybody else under the bus when ultimately he's the commander in chief. He's the one that's supposed to make the decision and oversee it. But he's never going to take accountability ever, ever, ever. And Pete Hexth, I've been saying this from jump. Trump can pardon him. It's the military underneath him, the servicemen that are going to get fucked by this criminal staff and he can't pardon everybody and they're the ones that's going to hold the back for all this criminal bullshit. Okay.
And then here's Caroline Levitt basically lying to the press. She is a pro. This is a huge problem for the administration because you have Rep. That have vowed to investigate the shit out of this. My prediction is he's going to. He's already putting blame at Hegseth and it'll be easy for him to replace him and get somebody new. And Caroline Levitt is already setting that up and she's embarrassing herself in the White House press pool. Play the clip. Gabe's question. You said that the follow up strike was lawful. What law is it that allows no survivor the struck? The strike conducted on September 2nd was conducted in self defense to protect Americans in vital United States interests. The strike was conducted in international waters and in accordance with the law of armed conflict. Okay. It's so unbelievable that she says that this was self defense when the President of the United States Kanks is pardoning drug dealers, he's pardoning sex offenders, he's pardoning January sixers. This guy is a crime prisoner President. This whole thing the whole Venezuela is a ruse. This is a. A wag the dog. And they've got. They want to go into Venezuela and get the oil like Republicans always want to do. They want to go rape and pillage other countries for their national resources because this is a gift to his big oil donor. So they are indiscriminately and illegally murdering fishermen. And they haven't produced one ounce of evidence. And there have been 32 killings. I believe they have not produced one ounce of evidence that these people were drug traffickers. And the reason that Pete Hexeth illegally ordered that second hit on those survivors is because the survivors, if they were taken into custody, would be revealed, are civilian fishermen.
Right. They couldn't leave them alive because they would tear the whole thing down. I've heard that they're going to call this admiral that Hexa threw under the bus into Congress. I think it'll be interesting because remember, Hug Seth, like a month ago said nobody in the military can testify before Congress or talk to Congress unless it's cleared by him, which is not okay. That's not how it works. So I think we're going to start seeing more trickles because now these military members who are being asked to do illegal things know they have allies. And so I think this whole thing's about to blow the up.
Well, there was a former admiral that quit.
Yes.
Before it got to this. And it's important to understand that it was around the same time that he is removing the press from the Pentagon press pull. They all knew that this had happened. And so he's removing one of the pillars of a democratic truth serum, which is the media, and they're preeminently removed from the Pentagon and replaced. I just heard right now that Laura Loomer has a desk at the Pentagon, and so it's nuts. And Pete, Hug Seth, he thinks he's playing army, you guys. After this was revealed, he. He tweets this and it's, Franklin targets narco terrorists. And he thinks this is funny. He thinks that killing people is super funny. And at the same time, I want to remind you, this is a guy who talks incessantly about his Christian faith and had his pastor go on a 60 Minutes interview and go on and on about Christian nationalism and go on and on about women losing the right to vote. So he, if any other secretary of defense did this, particularly Lloyd Austin, the. The African American that served under Biden, who by all accounts everybody said was kind of the star of the Biden administration, if he would have posted something like this, this cartoon. It's just the, the way these white dip Christian nationalists, racists in the Trump administration get away with this level of unprofessionalism, imma, depravity, war crimes, racism. Beneath the dignity of the office. They're so far beneath the dignity of every single office that they hold, it doesn't even get discussed because now it's just assumed. And here is hugseth three to four weeks after he ordered the hit. Kill them all. Play the clip.
Military Veteran or Former Platoon Leader
We fight to win. We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our war fighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement. Just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters. That's all I ever wanted as a platoon leader and it's all my E6 squad leaders ever wanted. Back to that E6 rule. We let our leaders fight their formations and then we have their back. It's very simple, yet incredibly powerful.
Progressive Political Commentator
That's just you guys. That was after these strikes. That was after they knew what they did. And he is basically talking about, you know, everything that the military code had was to prevent, you know, killing defenseless survivors where there isn't a threat. And he wants to change it. Maximum lethality. And it's important when we talk about these guys, the hypocrisy that they go on and on and on about Jesus and their Christianity and the country being a Christian nation, while at the same time he's sitting there talking about killing innocent people. No woke rules of engagement, just maximum lethality. And that moral duplicity in which Christian nationalism lives. Now, with an assist from Fox News reporting, they are going to be integrating a lot of pro Christian headlines into all of their opinion shows. This type of Christianity is a walking, talking, breathing advertisement as to why nobody wants to be a Christian, why this religion is in decline. Because people that have brains and people that care about other human beings see that and think. There's nothing enviable or marketable about the evil words that just came out of that man's mouth and he does it in the name of his religion. And that's just, it's so abhorrent to me. It's just so important. In the red states, you guys, that's the norm. That's the, that's the average voter in red states is that mentality right there. Okay, guys, I recently discovered this just Enough tinted moisturizer from Jones Road Beauty. I cannot say enough stuff about these products. They even have Miracle Balm, which is absolutely incredible. What I love so much about Jones Jones Road Beauty is you can wear makeup without having that horrible caked on look. And with pumps and I being on camera all the time, I'm not that super into makeup. I found Jones Road Beauty to just be the absolute best. And most of all, for those of you that are looking for things to get those hard to buy for ladies in your life, it's so giftable. And they have an exclusive holiday collection. All five limited edition kits in the collection are trios that include new holiday shades, products and packaging. Listener this holiday season, simplify your routine with makeup that's clean, strategic and multifunctional. And don't miss out on their limited edition holiday sets. They won't be here for long and once they're gone, they're gone. Also, as a treat just for our listeners, you'll get a free cool gloss on your first purchase. When you use code IHIP at checkout, just head to Jonesroadbeauty.com and use code IHIP at checkout. After you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them that we sent you well.
And you look at the Christian. The Christians are the one that are cheering for Alligator Alcatraz. You've got all these political pendants that are super Jesusy and they're saying, I want to see him hurt, I want to see him killed. It's unbelievable how we've desensitized ourselves to murder. I mean, it's murder full stop. And I also think it's important that when he says it's common sense, he doesn't have a lick of sense. So I don't think he can do anything in this regard. But they like it. They like to watch the videos with people, immigrants, shackled and chained. They put these strikes on their social media because it feeds this thirst for cruelty that this movement has and it goes along with this Christianity because they believe they're better, they're entitled to do more. And just on the final thing, if these people in these boats were drug dealers, why don't you go arrest them? Why don't you take a boat and enter the boat and get the drugs? But they didn't do that because they're about killing people so they can get the oil. They don't give a shit if they're fishermen or drug dealers. And if they were drug dealers, Donald Trump would be all for it. We see what he's doing with the former president of Honduras.
And then lastly, it's important that we keep chronicling how much worse the MAGA movement and Donald Trump is making people. And here's just a prime example. Whether it's your somebody in your family and your immediate family or a neighbor or a longtime friend or Marco Rubio or Megyn Kelly, that one, once you start capitulating to this moral depravity, with each human rights violation and each cruel thing that this administration does, with each anti democratic movement, these people get progressively worse. Listen to Megyn Kelly yesterday.
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I really do kind of not only want to see them killed in the water, whether they're on the boat or in the water, but I'd really like to see them suffer. I would like Trump and Hegseth to make it last a long time so that they lose a limb and bleed out a little. Like, I'm really having a difficult time ginning up sympathy for these guys who 10 seconds earlier almost got taken out by the initial bomb, but because they managed to get ejected, you know, a little too soon, had to be taken out in the water. I realize legally it may make a difference, but truly, Mark, this is a tough case to really gin up the sympathies of the American people.
Progressive Political Commentator
I mean, this is just wild. Go ahead, Pumps.
Here's the thing. There's no evidence that these people were doing anything wrong. And I unfortunately have personal experience with people that believe, like Megan Kelly. And it, it destroys me, the lack of empathy. And it's the same people that are, we're going to stand on our Bible. We do what Jesus says we do. And then they go and they say shit like this and they, and this is not Megyn Kelly in a vacuum. It's, I have family members that are all in on this. And it's terrifying because when you dehumanize people, you lose all connection to the world. And you look what happened in Nazi Germany. They started dehumanizing the Jews and that's where we are. And people are like, oh, that's hyperbolic. No, it's not. We're killing people with no evidence.
And she's drooling about the potential of seeing them suffer more. It's not enough that we illegally kill people without due process. In the mind of Megyn Kelly and so many other Christian voters, you guys, and I'm not talking about you Christian light people, I'm talking about white Christian nationalists, white evangelicals, the mega churchgoers who have the pastors that fly the private jets and all of that, they. They feast on this human suffering and cruelty, and it is a real cancer. But as depressing as all of this stuff is, it's really important to remind you all his approval rating is in the low 30s. So what we're seeing right now is about three out of every 10Americans is like Megyn Kelly. Seven out of 10Americans are like, all of us here on this platform together. And we have to keep fighting for due process, democracy, human life. Because like Pump said, this is how it starts. We're dehumanizing people in this country. Country immigrants, fishermen, LGBTQ people. They have an intention to keep going and going because their ultimate vision is when they talk about I'm a heritage American, they're talking about white nationalist culture. And that's not what America is. America is a multicultural society, and it will always be a multicultural society. And we have to keep fighting for it and remember that we are in the majority.
Okay?
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Theme:
In this episode of IHIP News, hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan discuss the fallout from recent illegal killings in the Caribbean ordered by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth under the Trump administration. Using their signature humor and pointed commentary, the hosts analyze the political finger-pointing, the hypocrisy of Christian nationalism, and the dangerous precedent of dehumanizing rhetoric that has surfaced among right-wing figures and media. The episode focuses on accountability for war crimes, systemic abuses of power, and the increased moral depravity witnessed under the current political climate.
"[Hegseth] is a showboater and a grandstander with zero experience that thinks he’s playing army." – [00:49]
“So now the White House…is blaming Hegseth…and the Hill is reporting: The White House confirms Hegseth authorized second strike on the drug boat.” – [01:46]
“So basically what he just did there is he threw his own admiral under the bus completely, but also said he had his back.” – [02:49]
"The least surprising thing about this whole thing is Donald Trump throws everybody else under the bus when ultimately he's the commander in chief. …He's never going to take accountability ever, ever, ever.” – [03:52]
“Trump can pardon him. … he can't pardon everybody and they’re the ones that's going to hold the back for all this criminal bullshit.” – [04:14]
“It’s so unbelievable that she says that this was self defense when the President…is pardoning drug dealers, he’s pardoning sex offenders, he’s pardoning January Sixers.” – [05:14]
“He’s removing one of the pillars of a democratic truth serum, which is the media... Laura Loomer has a desk at the Pentagon, and so it's nuts.” – [07:40]
"We don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our war fighters...maximum lethality and authority for warfighters. That’s all I ever wanted as a platoon leader..." – [09:28]
“That moral duplicity in which Christian nationalism lives... this type of Christianity is a walking, talking, breathing advertisement as to why nobody wants to be a Christian, why this religion is in decline.” – [10:35]
"I really do kind of not only want to see them killed in the water...I'd really like to see them suffer. I would like Trump and Hegseth to make it last a long time so that they lose a limb and bleed out a little..." – [15:28]
“When you dehumanize people, you lose all connection to the world. And you look what happened in Nazi Germany. They started dehumanizing the Jews and that’s where we are.” – [16:18]
“His approval rating is in the low 30s...we have to keep fighting for due process, democracy, human life. … America is a multicultural society, and it will always be a multicultural society.” – [16:58]
This episode delivers a searing, humor-tinged critique of the Trump administration’s handling of military power, the cycles of blame within government, the threat of authoritarian violence, and the ethical contradictions in the rhetoric of the Christian right. Through engaging banter, sharp analogies, and clips from news and military voices, Jennifer and Pumps lay out the stakes: unchecked power and moral rot threaten not just foreign victims, but American democracy itself. The hosts urge listeners to resist apathy and dehumanization, reminding them that the fight for democratic values and basic human decency is now more crucial than ever.