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Foreign.
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Of this illegal, unnecessary, ridiculous war with Iran. Pete Hexeth, everybody knows, has been on a maniacal firing spree. And now he has fired the country's top Navy official. Pop this up. Secretary of the Navy John C. Fan is departing the administration effective immediately. On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Falin for his service to the Department of the United States Navy. We wish him well in his future endeavors. Under Secretary Hung Cow will be acting Secretary of the Navy.
C
Josh, doesn't sound like an ideal time to lose your secretary, but, you know, there's. I'm sure there's so many layers of dysfunction in the military right now. I mean, this isn't the first purge of.
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Of.
C
Of what I would deem some sort of a disagreement with lower officials. I mean, this has been coming for some time. Could you imagine Pete Heth being your boss? Could you imagine taking orders from him? It's kind of scary.
D
It is. I just immediately saw this and thought, Pete Hegseth has purged everybody in the military for a variety of reasons. I think the most recent. I don't know about this man in particular, but always it comes down in my mind to when the public officials, the how the senators and the representatives in the House that are military members, when they came out and told the military, you do not have to comply with illegal orders, Pete Hexeth and MAGA melted down. So I immediately knew that they were giving illegal orders because unless you're not. If you're not giving illegal orders, it doesn't matter. And then I think the most recent round of firing, they were fired, in my opinion, for the illegal orders, but because Hecseth did not want to promote women and black people that had earned their promotion. So in my mind, something very similar is going on here. He didn't want to follow Pete Hegseth's crazy ass Christian nationalism bullshit. And so he's like, you were in the middle of a war. Too bad, so sad you're out. All right.
B
And there's more reporting from Axios on this. Let's pop this up. Why it matters. The ouster of the service's top civilian caught many off guard and adds to the pile of military officials who either abruptly exited or were pushed out of their posts under Trump 2.0. Fan didn't understand he wasn't the boss. His job is to follow orders given, not to follow the orders he thinks should be given. A person familiar with the situation told Axios that the same person said Phelan And Hegseth did not get along. And so what's important I think about this is in this New York Times article that covers this. Phelan is a huge Trump mega donor. And so I don't know what it is other than I have always said these work environments are incredibly toxic. The way these people are treating the American public, do you think they're saving their best foot forward for each other and for those relationships? Phelan's like, f you, Hegseth, I've given, you know, I'm a mega donor. I can go talk to the boss myself. And CNN is reporting the following Pop this up. The official said Phelan, though, did not appear to believe Trump was aware of the message, and he soon began phoning other White House officials, asking if they had heard he had been told to resign and whether they knew if the president was aware of it. It was around Parnell issued the statement, the official said. At least two White House staffers told Fan the decision was Trump's, the official said. But Fan still sought confirmation from the president himself or someone close to him coming to the White House grounds and looking for officials in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with whom he had relationships, asking if they had any information, the official said. And Trump just has a history of just firing people in a chicken shit way. Like if you just look Back to Trump 1.0, look back to the fact that Kristi Noem was giving a speech with a DHS podium when it was revealed online that she had been fired, Josh.
C
So you could see Secretary Falin, you could see him just thinking to himself, when Hexath fires him, does this little chicken know how much money I've given Donald Trump? Because that's the way these guys think. Like this has nothing to do with merits or intellect or your knowledge about the Navy or, or gamemanship in a war or, or anything like that. It's about money. It's always about money. So this makes perfect sense, that Phelan would march himself to the White House and say, listen, Donald, I've given you tens of millions of dollars and this little chicken tells me that you're firing me. If you're going to do this, you're going to do it to my face. Because it's how those guys operate. And, and he's learning just like everybody else. It doesn't matter if you give him 50 million, it doesn't matter if you give him 500 million, he's going to take a big on you at some point in time. The only thing you need to Ask is where do I need to be when you do that and show up?
B
And I think it's interesting that this shows how compromised this president and his structure of leadership is. Phelan felt like he should be the boss of the military, which shows how inherently everybody in the military is dismissive subconsciously and consciously of Hegseth. He didn't believe the Secretary of Defense or Secretary of War for a second. That's how what a laughing stock Pete Heth is that he had to march over to the Eisenhower building to figure out if this was true. Because Pete Hexeth is a laughing stock publicly. And behind closed doors. And replacing Phelan is Hung Cow, who believes in the power of witchcraft. Let's play this clip.
E
Place in Monterey, California called Lovers Point. Yeah, the original name was Lovers of Christ Point, but now it's become they took out the Christ. It's Lovers Point. And it's really. Monterey is a very dark place now. A lot of witchcraft and the Wiccan community has really taken over there and we can't let that happen in Virginia. Virginia is, I mean especially down, down in Roanoke. They're God loving people.
C
Right.
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Richmond too, and Virginia Beach. And we just need to mobilize Christians across the nation.
B
I mean, Jesus Christ. All right. Cow was also Cal also claimed he was blown up in combat. You just saw the video of him. But never received a Purple Heart. The award given to troops wounded as a director, indirect result of enemy action mean pumps. What's your take on that?
D
It is just so tiresome to think of military leadership being led by these Christian nationalists that have zero ability to distinguish delusion from reality. It reminds me of the guy Trump appointed that was teleported to the White House. It's like you had a bad trip, dude. This guy clearly is not tethered to reality. And I, I just, I just get so tired of it. I want experts running the military, especially during a fucking war. And we get Bozo the Clown with the Bible up his ass like it's ridiculous.
B
Well, and the experts have been dismissed from the table. There were experts that sat down and said, you cannot invade Iran. We will have a meltdown of the highest order with the Strait of Hormuze. The American public has no idea. They can't even grasp what is going to happen with the Strait of Hormu. There are mines everywhere in it. It's going to take six months to clear those min. And the oil crisis that is heading for us and we've lived in the superpower, the dismantling of the superpower that we live in. And we're on Instagram looking at Cats and NBA games and what have you. There is real pain that is heading for the global economy. And meanwhile, Caroline Levitt is telling us that we should blindly trust what Trump tells us. That doesn't sound culty at all, does it, about the war in Iran? Let's play the clip.
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The President said that he doesn't want to extend ceasefire and the bombs would start falling after the end of the ceasefire. And unilaterally, he declared that the ceasefire would be extended indefinitely. Iranian state media are openly mocking the President of the United States and saying, we didn't even request the extension of the ceasefire. What's the response from the President of the United States?
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The response is you guys all see a lot of different messages, messaging coming out of Iran, a lot of different rhetoric and language from them. I would caution you to take anything that they say at face value. What we've seen is that what they say publicly is much different than what they concede to the United States and our negotiating team privately. I've said that repeatedly to all of you in the news media, and you should take our word for it.
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Josh.
C
Yeah, we should blindly trust what Trump tells us. I think is her quote. What planet do you live in for us to blindly trust Trump with what he tells us? Tells us that's going on in Iran? It's. Yeah, the whole thing. I mean, it looks like I'm watching a Maxim photo shoot when I see her wearing this outfit in front of the White House. I mean, I don't even know. I don't know how to respond to half of this. I'm gonna have to get better at this on ihop because it's just like. What? It's crazy. It's crazy.
D
Here's my thing. She sits up there and she talks about, you know, there's so many different things they're saying publicly and privately. Her eye, the administration she works for sends out seven gazillion different messages every single day. Like, the absolute hypocrisy, the hubris that she gets up there with is just. It's second to none in the propaganda bullshit meter.
B
Yeah. And we all have to remember that this is the way dictators, fascists govern. Propaganda is the engine that keeps the wheels going. And then this ridiculous loyalty to this incompetent buffoon, Donald Trump. And I just think the messaging that we have to keep driving home here is every single time a Republican is elected president, this stuff happens. We are at war. The economy crashes. We have corporate interest stealing money for the top percent. So basically the big beautiful bill has stolen money from 95% of working class people and transferred it to Jeff Bezos and the Elon Musk's of the world. And then you still have Trump at a 32% approval rating right now. And think, do you think those 32% make over 100 grand a year? I, I don't think so. I think that this is just the biggest and we have to. The Democrats have got to message and nail in the coffin of the anti family pro death cult that is the Republican Party. How many wars are the Republican Party going to get the United States into?
C
And it's teed up perfectly right now for the Democrats. As you ease into the midterms, it's, it's the perfect storm for the Democrats to come in and take over. Of course all this is assuming that we have free and fair elections and that we have judges and, and statewide officials that follow the Constitution, follow the law. But, and we've said this time and time again on this program that it's teed up for the Democrats. Can they seize the opportunity? Can they have some conviction? Can they stand up for working people? Can they stand up for the economy and basic things that people care about instead of money grab and lies from this administration? So hopefully I'm optimistic, but it's going to be challenging. I, I think that we're all underestimating, we're all somewhat trying to be optimistic about these elections coming up in the midterms, but there's a lot of concerns, a lot of concerns about the execution of that. And what does that look like?
B
All right, listener, instead of going to buy a robe or a throw blanket for your mother for Mother's Day, I have the very best thing that you can get her. It is called the Aura Frame. Aura Frames have free unlimited storage. As many photos and videos as you want to upload to it and it flashes like their kids, your pets, their grandkids, etc. You can keep adding these photos from anywhere online. So if your mother is technically challenged, don't worry, you can do it from your app. There is a great way to personalize your gift and you can add a message before it arrives. There is a fabulous gift box included and you can share your photos and videos and effortlessly. And most importantly, the Aura Frame has reached number one in the App Store on Christmas Day in 2025. That's how popular these frames are because that's what an amazing gift these frames are. Named number one by wirecutter. You can save on the gifts mom's love by visiting auraframes.com for a limited time. Listeners can get 25 off their best selling carver matte frame with code ihip that's a U R A frames.com promo code IHIP support show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Well and Trump will do everything in his power to cheat. He's cheated his entire life. He is a con man through and through and here he is taking credit for the release of eight Iranian woman Pop this up. Very good news. I've just been informed that the eight women protesters who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed. He takes, you know, I very much appreciate it. He takes credit for all of this. Reuters is disputing this claim, Papa said. After an initial social media post by Trump about the women on Tuesday, Mazan said Trump had quote fallen for false claims circulated by anti Iran groups. On Wednesday, it again said Tehran had made no concessions. Last night, Donald Trump, citing a completely false news story, called on Iran to overturn the death sentences of eight women, Mazan said. However, despite these false claims being revealed last night, Trump claimed in another post a few minutes ago that the sentences of eight protesting women were supposed to be executed in Iran tonight have been overturned. And he thanked Iran. The agency said a number of the women had already been released and some are facing charges that could result in prison but not death. And so we have this guy who has created this entire situation in Iran because Benjamin Netanyahu and apparent American diplomats, his golfing buddy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner dog walked him into it. The Strait of Hormuze was open. The exact deal that these diplomats are trying to get is the same deal that our president, former President Obama had with Iran. But because Trump and Hegseth are objectively racist, they wanted to dismantle anything that Barack Obama had done. Because you have to understand this regime is not American. They are not, they are not fighting for American interests. And the sooner we realize that, the sooner we can all understand what is going on here. Nothing about what is going on in Iran is about helping American interests. All it is going to do is get service members killed, demean our reputation around the world. Deservingly we deserve it with the way that our country behaves on the international stage. And then look at the national debt. These fiscal conservatives, these fiscal Republicans. We're so worried about the national debt. That's another lie Republicans constantly tell.
C
And we're not even Touching upon the facts in that story that he's responding to a fake account. That's the. The. We don't even think that these eight women were going to be executed. So he's taking credit. He's having a dialogue back and forth with some anonymous fake account online and then taking credit for it. And this is our president and we. We can't even wrap our heads around this. And we see this kind of shit every day. And it's. It's like, how many times can I show up here and say, this is complete? But that's really what it is. It's crazy. It's like a mind. Every day, it's like you wake up for just some new mind where you read something and you think, this isn't happening to our country. This really isn't the person that the people elected to be president. This guy isn't really just making shit up and about eight women being executed and then taking credit for something that never happened from an anonymous or fake account. Surely this shit isn't happening. But it is. Every single day.
B
Yeah, it's just. It's exhausting being an American. But because of what the three of us feel, and I know all of you feel that these elections, upcoming elections, we know they're going to do everything in their power to suppress the vote, cheat everything, everything is going to be on the table. We have to turn out in full force. And I do have an announcement today. My book that is coming out October 6th, the COVID has been revealed.
C
Wow.
B
Me on the COVID of it.
C
Wow.
B
Not today. Fascists. The lies that God is here and the truths that will reunite us. You can pre order this in the link in our bio. So please support me and support my book. Kylie. Let's see. Yes, I would like to promote this exclusively on independent media. So you guys do me a solid and go pre order. All right. That's all we have. Like and subscribe and we'll be back later with more news.
G
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D
If my teenager starts calling me Leslie
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D
That makes sense.
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Episode: Trump and Hegseth Destroy The American Military? MAGA Official Enraged By Trump Firing
Hosts: Jennifer Welch & Angie "Pumps" Sullivan
Date: April 23, 2026
In this episode, Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan dive into the latest upheaval within the U.S. military under President Trump’s administration, focusing on the firing of Navy Secretary John C. Phelan by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The hosts dissect the chaos in military leadership, the role of MAGA loyalists, the influence of Christian nationalism, and the broader consequences for America’s democracy and global standing. Featuring their signature blend of outrage, biting humor, and progressive analysis, this episode explores the intersection of militarism, political power grabs, and propaganda.
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Jennifer and Angie maintain a sarcastic, exasperated, and darkly humorous tone throughout the episode. Their analysis carries both sharp anger and comedic exasperation, highlighting the daily absurdities, dangers, and authoritarian drift of the Trump administration’s handling of the military and national governance. The episode closes with a sense of urgency for political engagement and a parting call to action for listeners.