Executive Disorder: ICE at Airports, New DHS Secretary, Iran Negotiations

Summary

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It Could Happen Here — Executive Disorder: ICE at Airports, New DHS Secretary, Iran Negotiations

Podcast Date: March 27, 2026
Hosts: Robert Evans, Mia Wong, Sophie Lichterman, Garrison Davis

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Episode Overview

This lively and incisive episode covers the tumultuous week of March 18th to March 25th, 2026, focusing on the collapse and dysfunction in the executive branch—particularly at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), recent ICE deployments at U.S. airports, the ripple effects of U.S.-Iran hostilities, and new leadership at DHS. The hosts combine dark humor with detailed, blunt analysis to document political, economic, and humanitarian fallout as the Trump administration navigates multiple crises.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tech Annoyances & AI News

Timestamps: 02:37–07:10

• Hosts vent frustrations with modern workplace software, especially intrusive AI features in platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Copilot.
  • "It's insufferable. All these goddamn platforms with their stupid AI features and moving of my settings. I sound like the oldest person in the world..." — Mia Wong (03:16)
• OpenAI shuts down its Sora AI video app amidst a failed $1B Disney deal.
  • Disney pulled its investment due to lack of useful licensing/indemnity for creators.
  • Sora's terms did not allow generated content to be used commercially, frustrating both hobbyists and filmmakers.
  • "You can't actually do anything with your Sora clips." — Robert Evans (06:21)
• Briefs on other news:
  • U.S. Army raises enlistment age to 42.
  • Pentagon to keep National Guard in DC during Trump’s second term.
  • Democrats flipped Trump’s old state House district in Florida.
    • “Vindication of the Mia Blue tsunami theory...” — Unidentified Female Host (07:54)
• FBI investigates ex-Counterterrorism Center head Joe Kent for classified leaks and controversial claims about Israel.
  • Hosts mock conspiracy theories linking Israel to the killing of Charlie Kirk.

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2. ICE at Airports During the DHS Shutdown

Timestamps: 09:36–19:23

• DHS has been shuttered for over a month, leaving over 400 TSA agents unpaid and many quitting.
• Trump announces ICE (still funded by a prior bill) will be deployed to airports for TSA duties.
  • Locations include Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, NYC, and others.
  • ICE agents at airports aren’t wearing masks, contradicting earlier claims about anti-doxing measures.
  • Trump: “I’m a big proponent of ICE wearing masks… I would greatly appreciate, however, no masks... Thank you.” — Donald Trump (11:03)
  • “Discovered the paperclip.” — repeated sarcastically as Trump compares his ICE idea to the “discovery” of the paperclip (11:41)
• Trump confirms ICE will make arrests at airports:
  • “They’re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. That’s very fertile territory.” — Donald Trump (12:43)
  • Hosts: Most undocumented immigrants overstay visas, not airport entries.
  • ICE's real function at airports: standing behind TSA, minimal direct action.
  • Union leaders clarify ICE does not reduce lines or conduct TSA work.
  • “They are literally standing behind the officers while they’re checking documents... or walking the queue line.” — Heidrick Thomas, TSA Union NY/NJ (15:17)
• Viral incident: Plainclothes ICE agents detain a woman and her daughter at SFO.
  • Deemed unrelated but illustrates current climate.
• Senate efforts to restore DHS funding (excluding ICE) are rebuffed by Trump until he gets his “SAVE America Act” (voter restrictions, anti-trans measures).

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3. The Escalating Iran Conflict and Energy Crisis

Timestamps: 22:30–38:32

• Overview: One month into the U.S.-Iran war, global oil markets are spiraling.
  • Gas prices soar ($7.50/gallon in CA; oil reaching $175+/barrel).
  • “Worst case” financial scenarios threaten U.S. and global economies.
• Trump administration is desperate for an “off ramp” but their offers (sanctions relief if Iran gives up nukes) are non-starters:
  • “At the time in which you’ve repeatedly killed all of the people running the country, you’ve kind of only made it clear that they need nukes.” — Robert Evans (23:16–24:00)
  • U.S. Navy escorts through the Strait of Hormuz are deemed too risky—potential for catastrophic losses.
  • Iranian forces are vastly underestimated by Trump officials, who treat them “like Venezuela’s army,” which isn’t the reality.
  • “There’s a lot of guys left who have a lot of experience in preparing for this exact war for a very long time.” — Unidentified Female Host (29:22)
• Iran’s leverage:
  • Strait of Hormuz closed; 17+ tankers already attacked.
  • Iran allows limited exceptions (ex: Thailand) but most of Asia is starved of energy.
  • Their negotiation asks: war reparations, proxy stand-downs, regional control of the Strait.
  • American “peace negotiations” are mostly to calm markets, not find real solutions.
  • 1,000-2,000 U.S. paratroopers deployed for possible operations, raising stakes further.

Global Fallout

• Collapsing economies in South/East Asia:
  • Companies, governments can't afford cooling; public holidays are declared to save energy.
  • Massive unemployment as industries shut (ex: 400,000 lost jobs in Indian ceramics).
  • “You’re starting to see just kind of these countries unravel because so much of their infrastructure is based on oil...” — Unidentified Female Host (36:38)
  • The U.S. quietly lifts sanctions for India to keep some Iranian oil flowing and avoid utter catastrophe.

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4. DHS, ICE, and Hardline Deportation Rhetoric

Timestamps: 43:59–53:21

• Gregory Levino (ex-DHS commander) boasts to the NY Times he had a plan to deport 100 million people.
  • DHS even tweeted about this “goal” (almost ten times the number of undocumented people in the U.S.).
  • “I wish I’d caught even more illegal aliens… there’s always a creative and innovative solution to catching more.” — Levino (44:06)
  • Hosts note the plan both lacks logistical sense and is openly about white nationalist ambitions.
  • “If it sounds extreme, it’s because it’s nearly 10 times the estimated number of undocumented people in the country. It’s also more than a quarter of the entire US population.” — NYT report quoted by Sophie (44:13)
• The deportation rhetoric is revealed as both fantasy and a signal to far-right activism.
• Senate Republicans defend “ethnic cleansing” rhetoric, unable to challenge the factual implications.

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5. New DHS Secretary: Markwayne Mullin

Timestamps: 49:00–53:21

• Former Senator Markwayne Mullin is sworn in as DHS secretary.
  • In confirmation hearings, he sort-of apologizes for inflammatory past comments.
  • “Is that the same as an apology?… Just speak like a person… Do we got to bring Mr. Rogers in here to tell you what an apology is?” — Robert Evans (49:58)
  • Mullin promises to keep DHS out of the headlines but is vague on real reforms.
  • Advocates for ICE to work “with local law enforcement,” blames sanctuary policies for ICE overreach.
  • Says ICE/CBP will have to obtain judicial warrants to enter homes, but leaves large exceptions.
  • Hosts note: Any small shift is the result of public pressure—ICE “should not exist as an agency.”
• Trump, at Mullin’s swearing in:
  • “Markwayne would be very much in favor of what I’m in favor of… he might be worse than me.” — Donald Trump (52:59)
  • The hosts note the surrealism of political actors reduced to caricatures and bad faith.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• AI Dystopia:
  • “All these goddamn platforms with their stupid AI features... I sound like the oldest person in the world.” — Mia Wong (03:16)
• ICE at Airports:
  • “Discovered the paperclip.” — Donald Trump analogy, satirized (11:41)
  • “ICE officers in Atlanta are not doing any screening functions. They are literally standing behind the officers...” — Heidrick Thomas (15:17)
• War & Oil:
  • “You are sending them [the Navy] through the chokiest of choke points. And Iran has spent 50 years preparing...” — Robert Evans (26:49–28:49)
  • “There are a shit ton of people in the world where it’s like—yeah, I know, like, 400,000 people are out of their jobs because their entire ceramics industry is gone.” — Unidentified Female Host (38:19)
• Deportation Fantasies:
  • “I wish I’d caught even more illegal aliens. I mean, we went as hard as we could, but there’s always a creative and innovative solution to catching more.” — Levino (44:06)
• Surreality of Trumpworld:
  • “Markwayne would be very much in favor of what I’m in favor of. He might be worse. He might be worse than me.” — Donald Trump (52:59)
  • “These people are so bizarre. Like they can’t talk. They sound ridiculous. Nightmare.” — Mia Wong (53:24)

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Important Timestamps (Content Sections Only)

• AI, Tech Frustrations & Sora news: 02:37–07:10
• ICE replaces TSA at airports, policy chaos: 09:36–19:23
• War with Iran, global oil/economic crisis: 22:30–38:32
• Levino/Deportation Fantasies & Ethnic Cleansing: 43:59–49:00
• New DHS Secretary and ICE reforms: 49:00–53:21

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Tone & Takeaways

The episode is irreverent and darkly comic, but rigorously factual. The hosts pull no punches describing the dysfunction and dangers of the Trump White House, the tragicomic spectacle of ICE at airports, the hard limits of American power in Iran, and the grim possibilities should administration hardliners get their way. Listeners will come away with a clear sense of unfolding crises, and the capacity for even greater disaster as “collapse” continues to unfold.

Closing Thought:
Amid chaos, the hosts emphasize the importance of staying informed, organizing against authoritarian policies, and retaining some sense of gallows humor as the world changes—sometimes for the worse, but always with the possibility of resistance.

Transcript

[Sophie Lichterman]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Mia Wong]

Guaranteed Human.

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[Mia Wong]

Lenovo. Cool zone media. Oh, God, I hate these assholes. Zoom. If you're listening to this and leaking my.

[Robert Evans]

Keep all of this in. You keep all of this in. Keep it all in.

[Mia Wong]

Beautiful settings.

[Robert Evans]

Beautiful stuff.

[Mia Wong]

Insufferable. It's insufferable.

[Robert Evans]

Welcome to it could happen here. Executive dysfunction disorder. I forget. Disorder disorder.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The weekly newscast we do that covers what's happening in the White House, the crumbling world, and what it means for you.

[Robert Evans]

And Sophie's simmering rage at Zoom. Constantly moving the recording button.

[Mia Wong]

Not even just Zoom. It's all the. It's insufferable. All these goddamn platforms with their stupid AI features and moving of my settings. I sound like the oldest person in

[Sophie Lichterman]

the world, but that' moving the recorder.

[Unidentified Female Host]

This sucks. It's so annoying. Holy shit.

[Robert Evans]

Everybody's pretty pissed about AI these days.

[Mia Wong]

I mean, it's insufferably stupid, but. Stop it. Stop it. And we have to use Microsoft for work. And every time I try to copy something, it asks if I want to use Copilot. No, I never want to use Copilot.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Fuck off, Sophie. You're really not maximizing your productivity.

[Mia Wong]

Okay, this week we're covering what that means now and. No, don't do that to me. Clavicular as. Stop it. Stop it. Okay, I'm going away now to your jobs.

[Robert Evans]

What are our jobs, really?

[Sophie Lichterman]

You're not going to join in? Oh, I'm here.

[Mia Wong]

I'm always here.

[Sophie Lichterman]

That's Sophie Lichterman. Also Mia Wong. Robert Evans. I'm Garrison Davis.

[Robert Evans]

That's right.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This episode we're covering, the week of March 18th to March 25th. Speaking of AI, OpenAI has announced they are shutting down their AI generated video app, Sora, and as a result, the Disney deal has fell through. Disney's no longer going through with the $1 billion investment and character licensing deal with OpenAI.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, no.

[Sophie Lichterman]

According to the Hollywood Reporter. I know our audience is full of a lot of big Sora heads, and I'm sure this is some tough news.

[Robert Evans]

The Sora community is taking hits.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah, it's okay. You can still play Sora in Smash Ultimate. You can recover. I believe in you all.

[Robert Evans]

There's a video game character named Sora, too, huh?

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah, The Keyblade will still be there.

[Robert Evans]

I didn't get into those games.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Action. Hilariously. Also a Disney franchise, also licensed through Disney.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Great, Great stuff. Well, I found this very funny in part because, like, when Sora came Out there was this burst of enthusiasm for, like, soon we'll just be generating our own movies and tv. You won't need Hollywood. But then it turned out that you can't actually, like, do, like, even if you want to make stuff with Sora, like, even if you wanted to include, like, clips of it to, like, help augment other films you were making. And there were a couple of filmmakers who tried to do this, even some in critical ways where they were like, oh, well, you know, I can use like, pieces of Sora generated video to like, illustrate this point. I went to about AI, but you couldn't actually use like, Sora footage in anything that you wanted to, like, sell to Netflix or Amazon or like, whoever put in a theater because, like, the terms of use basically did not allow it because of how much risk you were at of getting sued for, you know, utilizing other people's shit content other people made. OpenAI was not willing to indemnify the users. Adobe has a similar, like, slop AI video generation machine that does indemnify, like, users of the content they make. And that is still going. Yeah, so I think that was kind of like one of the key issues here is just that, like, you can't actually do anything with your Sora clips.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah. I mean, this doesn't mean it's going to lead to the end of AI generated video on social media.

[Robert Evans]

Lord, no, unfortunately, no.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This is a movement that OpenAI is making towards business to business sales and away from this direct to consumer application. It's still an interesting move, the fact that Disney's breaking off the deal. Also interesting. Its exact ramifications for OpenAI and like, AI generated video in the long run, still still unclear.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah, I also just want to mention that, like, obviously the other reason they're doing this is that this stuff is hideously expensive.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Like, yeah, a lot of money to. To generate this stuff.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Unfathomable amounts of money are just being lit on fire. Listen, listen to everything ever written by our friend and colleague Ed Zitron, if you want to know how much money is being lit on fire by this bullshit.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But yeah, yep, a few other small news stories. The U.S. army has raised its maximum enlistment age to 42. And the Pentagon is planning to maintain National Guard presence in Washington D.C. through the entirety of Trump's second term. In a special election Tuesday night, the Dems flipped Trump's own state House district in Florida, Palm Beach County. Trump won this district by 11 points in the 2024 election. This Tuesday, Democrat Emily Gregory won by 2 points, nearly a 14 point swing.

[Mia Wong]

Are we going to point out how he voted in that election?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Vote by mail, but it's okay because the Florida system is safe and secure. Yeah.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Also I want to point out this is more vindication of, of the Mia, of the Mia Blue tsunami theory that this is going to be a 2008 style blowout if they're losing fucking Mar? A Lago at two point.

[Robert Evans]

I just, yeah, I try not to predict how the fucking bigger elections are going to go anymore. Just because, yeah, it's, it's so hard, but it's not. You wouldn't call it a good sign for the Republicans.

[Sophie Lichterman]

This is not a good sign for Republicans. Even though only like 33,000 people voted in this election, it is still interesting data.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. You would think again that he would, he would have more of a lock on his backyard. But also why would he have thought about it? Like I go back and forth and people are like, well, if they were going to steal an election, wouldn't they have done the one in Mar? A Lago? Probably not.

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Not.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Nah.

[Robert Evans]

Probably wouldn't have thought to do it. Probably would have figured they don't need to.

[Sophie Lichterman]

The FBI is investigating former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent for allegedly leaking classified information and this investigation predates his resignation last week. In an interview with Tucker Carlson last week, Kent implied Israel may have been involved in the killing of Charlie Kirk and that the FBI stopped Kent's investigation into this quote, unquote linkage.

[Robert Evans]

Oh my God. Oh God. Yeah, man. Israel killed Charlie Kirk. That's why there haven't been any other people on the right who have complained about Trump's aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes. Like no other conservatives have been pissed about the invasion of Iran. Just Charlie Kirk.

[Unidentified Female Host]

He was the lone anti Semite.

[Robert Evans]

The only.

[Unidentified Female Host]

He was the only one.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Charlie Kirk was the golden dome single handedly stopping Trump. Yeah. No, yeah.

[Robert Evans]

It's just a silly idea.

[Sophie Lichterman]

For our first big story, let's talk about airports. Everyone's favorite way to spend five to. Who knows, however, impossible. How many hours? Yeah, an impossible amount.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Oh God.

[Robert Evans]

No way to know.

[Sophie Lichterman]

DHS has been shut down for over a month now and more than 400 TS agents have quit after being left without pay while ICE agents continue to receive paychecks through last year's big beautiful bill. This past weekend, Trump announced ICE would be deployed to airports to assist TSA during the shutdown. By Monday morning, ICE agents had been sent to airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Fort Myers, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Juan, Newark and the two New York airports. Interestingly, come Monday, when ICE was spotted, they were not wearing masks, which seems to go against agency claims that masks are for protecting agents against so called doxing. That morning, Trump, truth quote, I'm a big proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for and are forced to deal with hardened criminals. I would greatly appreciate, however, no masks in all caps when helping our country out of the Democrat caused mess at the airports, etc. Thank you. Later on Monday, Trump was asked whose idea it was to send ice to airports and he had this fascinating response.

[Donald Trump]

Mine. That was mine. That was like the paperclip. You know the story of the paperclip? 182 years ago, a man discovered the paper clip. It was so simple and everybody that looked at it say, why didn't I think of that? ICE was my idea. I called, first person I called was, was Tom Holman. I said, what do you think? He said, I think it's great. Then I saw today there was some masks on. I didn't think the masks were appropriate. I put out a statement and I asked him, would it be possible to take off the mask because they should wear a mask when they're dealing with the murderers and the thugs left and let into our country.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Discovered the paperclip.

[Robert Evans]

Discovered the paperclip. Every now and then you get a little hint about his media diet and it's just fascinating.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Discover the paperclip is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. It's insane.

[Robert Evans]

Somebody told him a little story about like, well, you know, the, the person who invented the paperclip and Trump just kind of ran with it. That's gotta be it, right?

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah, it's, it's like, it's like the paperclip exists as like, as like a platonic form, like existing in the existing as like, as like a piece of truth.

[Robert Evans]

Someone chiseled it out of a piece of granite, the first paperclip, and was like, yes, I've done it.

[Unidentified Female Host]

It's like 40k shit. Where like the theory is that all technology has already been invented. So if you invent a technology, you're discovering it.

[Robert Evans]

Yes, the dark age of technology gave us the paper clip and it is actually heresy to invent a new kind of paperclip or other way to attach papers together.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Now, in less funny news, also on Monday, Trump confirmed that ICE would be arresting people at airports.

[Unidentified Female Host]

We see ICE arresting illegal migrants.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, yeah, that's.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Are we talking?

[Donald Trump]

That's why the Democrats are Going crazy because they've allowed by what they did. And hold up. We put ice, who are a very high level. I mean, they really are a high level group of people, and they love it because they're able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. That's very fertile territory. But that's not why they're there. They're really there to help.

[Robert Evans]

There to help.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Most people who are undocumented do not illegally enter the country through airports.

[Robert Evans]

That would be silly.

[Sophie Lichterman]

They overstay a visa. That's how they lose their legal presence. On Fox News, Tom Homan claimed that ICE was helping to reduce long lines at airports as well as arrest criminals. And we're filling the holes. The wait lines already dropped. Plus we're doing a security function at the airports. We're going to arrest criminals. Going to his airport, we're going to look for human trafficking, sex trafficking, money, you know, money smuggling. Money smuggling, yeah.

[Robert Evans]

They're. They're just gonna steal cash off of people at the airport.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robert Evans]

Now, TSA has done that for a while, off and on, so this isn't entirely new, but they're just gonna take money from people.

[Sophie Lichterman]

By Tuesday evening, lines at atl, the airport in Atlanta, the most busy airport in the world, has the most amount of travel to and from. By Tuesday evening, lines were back down. But by Wednesday morning, a friend of mine took three hours to get through tsa.

[Robert Evans]

God.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So what exactly is ICE doing? Mostly standing behind TSA at security checkpoints. Standing behind people still doing the regular TSA work, occasionally directing pedestrian traffic and maybe at most yelling at people to empty their pockets.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Hey, they're keeping the cookie clicker economy going. The mobile app economy is benefiting enormously for all these people standing around their phones.

[Sophie Lichterman]

ICE agents cannot actually do the job of TSA since they do not have the training nor the certification required to do so.

[Robert Evans]

Nope.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So ICE is largely just acting as auxiliary staff and security for the airport. But regular airport staff aren't suffering from the financial strain of the shutdown because they're still getting paid. Aaron Barker, the president of the TSA Union Local 554, which covers airports in Georgia like Atlanta, denied that ICE contributed to short lines on Tuesday compared to the weekend, noting that Tuesday is a non peak travel day.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, of course it's Tuesday.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Quote, it has nothing to do with ICE presence being there. The ICE officers in Atlanta are not doing any screening functions. They are literally standing behind the officers while they're checking documents and screening passengers or walking the queue line. That cascades through the airport, unquote. New York and New Jersey TSA Union President Heidrick Thomas said during a press conference, quote, you want to bring a tactical force into an environment where you're required to have customer service and skill set, a mindset where you know what you're doing, how to identify something that might be suspicious. They don't have that training, unquote, no.

[Robert Evans]

And the TSA doesn't really have that training. Let's be clear.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, no, TSA does not.

[Robert Evans]

Actually, TSA doesn't know what they're doing at all. There was never any chance of this helping anything. This is only going to be more of a pain in the ass for people at airports, which already are unpleasant to be at now.

[Sophie Lichterman]

On Monday, there was viral video of plainclothes agents wrestling a woman into handcuffs at the San Francisco airport. This incident actually took place Sunday night. Angelina Lopez Jimenez and her nine year old daughter were supposed to fly to Miami to visit a relative. Instead, she was detained by ICE agents and sent to an airport holding room. According to the New York Times. On Friday, TSA agents flagged her name on an upcoming passenger list and informed ICE that Lopez Jimenez was scheduled to fly from Miami on Sunday. Lopez Jimenez and her daughter were detained by Border patrol back in 2018, but were released with a notice to attend court for removal proceedings. Eventually, she stopped showing up for appointments and her deportation was ordered in 2019. This weekend, at around 9:30pm Sunday night, two plainclothes agents approached Lopez Jimenez in Terminal 3 in San Francisco and she then handed over her two Guatemalan passports, one for her and other for her daughter. While being led to the international terminal, she tried to run away, prompting the agents to tackle her to the ground. On Tuesday, her and her daughter were sent to Guatemala. The New York Times says that this operation was unrelated to the ICE airport deployment ordered by Trump. Also on Sunday night, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Trump that the Senate had reached a deal to fund TSA and the rest of dhs except for ice, which would be handled later in a reconciliation bill. But Trump instructed Thune to kill the deal. Later that night. Trump truth I don't think that we should make any deal with crazy country destroying radical left Democrats unless and until they vote with Republicans to pass the Save America act, that is the Voting Restriction act which includes voter ID with picture proof of citizenship to vote, heavily restricting mail in voting, requiring paper ballots as well as quote, no men in women's sports and no transgender mutilation of our precious children. UNQUOTE Senator Ted Cruz and John Kennedy are continuing to work on this plan that Thune told Trump about to reopen DHS sans ice. On Tuesday morning, Kennedy said on Fox News that Thune told him the president is reconsidering the option and quote, unquote may be on board. Later that day, Trump was asked if he supports what appears to be the, quote unquote emerging agreement coming out of the Senate to reopen dhs. Trump replied, quote, I'm going to look at it. We're going to take a good hard look at it. I want to support Republicans and sometimes it's awfully hard to get votes when you have Democrats that don't want to have voter id, unquote. Trump then went on to discuss the SAVE act and how he added no men in women's sports quote unquote because it's nearly a quote unquote 99 to 1 issue. It's time for our first break and we will return with more news.

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[Sophie Lichterman]

wasn't that delicious? So good.

[Robert Evans]

Your bill, ladies.

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[Mia Wong]

No, I got it. Seriously, I insist.

[Robert Evans]

I insisted first.

[Mia Wong]

Don't be silly. You don't be silly.

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[Sophie Lichterman]

Rock, paper, scissors for it.

[Robert Evans]

Rock, paper, scissors.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Shoot.

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[Robert Evans]

We're back. So let's talk about the war that's been going on for like a month at this point in time. You know, as we're kind of sitting here right now, we've all seen gas prices leap up substantially in California. There's some areas where you're paying like 750 a gallon.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Good Lord.

[Robert Evans]

It's gone up by about a dollar. Where I live, it looks fairly credible. There was a lot of fear that, like, kind of the worst case scenario would be that oil gets anywhere near like $200 a gallon or $200 a barrel. Not a gallon. Sorry, that would be.

[Unidentified Female Host]

That'd be real bad.

[Robert Evans]

But what we're looking at right now, there's credible reason to expect that, like, this stuff won't peak any lower than about 175 bucks a barrel, which is pretty catastrophic for the US economy and the global economy as a whole.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Nightmare.

[Robert Evans]

It's bad. And Trump has been, I think, increasingly making it clear that he is looking for an off ramp. There's a lot of reporting from inside the administration that suggests they did not think things would still be going on this long, that they thought that after the first rank of Iranian leaders were kind of wiped out, the guys behind them would be willing to play ball with the administration in exchange for staying in power, which is more or less the offer that we gave Delsey Rodriguez in Venezuela and the Venezuelan regime, the people who kind of were behind Maduro were willing to take. But Iran is a very different country, and they're in a very different situation, and they have a very different military, and they have a very different physical, strategic situation than Venezuela does, than any other country that the United States has attempted to use these kind of, like, violent bullying tactics on. And so far, Iran does not seem to be interested in coming to the table. Trump has made a couple of statements about how we're working on getting out of this. You know, we've presented an option to the Iranian government that would basically allow them to get rid of all of the sanctions if they just promise to stop enriching uranium and to hand over everything that they do have and to never try to get a nuke. I think it's pretty clear they're not willing to make that promise anymore. I think they were. I mean, they certainly were earlier, years ago. But at the time in which you've repeatedly killed all of the people running the country, you've kind of only made it clear that they need nukes. And that's the waiting game that we find ourselves kind of currently locked in here is Iran has shut down the Strait of Hormuz. They've, at least, last I checked, I think, hit 17 ships heading through the strait or in the strait, and that's caused the vast majority of traffic that would be crossing through to hold back. And so you've got this massive backlog of craft just kind of waiting because they can't go through. Trump previously had made some big statements about, well, the U.S. navy will escort them through, and we'll get, like, a global coalition of naval forces to escort them through. That hasn't come to pass. For one thing, very few governments with navies seem interested in sending sizable naval forces to the Strait of Hormuz to do this. And for the other thing, that's not an easy thing to do. It may seem like it, because it would be a real crazy thing to all of us listening if a single US Naval vessel were destroyed in combat. Right. Like, the last time anything like that happened was the USS Cole, which was hit while it was in dock by a suicide bomb. The idea of, like, a destroyer Getting sunk would be deeply upsetting to the American people, I think. Probably. And like, deeply, it would be a huge problem for, let alone if an aircraft carrier were to take serious damage. Yeah, these would be serious problems for the administration. The problem is that you can't escort fuel tankers through the Strait of Hormuz without exposing them and the ships escorting them to direct fire. Geographically, you know, you've probably heard a lot about Kharg island recently, which is this island that, as we talked about in a previous episode, a lot of Iran's oil infrastructure is on, because the coast of Iran is not, mostly not deep water. And you need very deep water for the boats that transport huge amounts of crude oil. These are massive vessels. These are some of the largest machines human beings have ever built of any kind.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Female Host]

These are the size of skyscrapers.

[Robert Evans]

Like, these are skyscrapers on their side. They are enormous boats. It is when people were suggesting, like, what if we just drive the oil? You have no idea how big these fucking boats are and how much oil it takes to keep the world running.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah.

[Robert Evans]

So you have a very narrow waterway through most of this. So the. It's not like it is in, you know, other waterways or in the broader ocean where people have a lot of routes they can take. Big ships can only take one very well known path through the strait. Right. And it's really easy to mine that path. If you've got naval vessels escorting those big boats, then you've got US Naval vessels that are exposing themselves to direct fire from the mountains and hills in a way that is impossible to stop them from getting shot at, from having drones flung at them. And we have a pretty good understanding of what we can stop and what we can't stop. And based on everything that's been happening, my suspicion is that Trump has been getting told by his officers, we can't guarantee we won't lose sailors and we won't lose ships if we do this, because you are sending them through the chokiest of choke points. And Iran has spent 50 years preparing to fling shit at naval vessels escorting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. There's no guarantee it's not going to be a bloodbath. So that's why the administration is looking at stuff like, well, what should be we sending in Marines. And we have Marines that are moving into the area. There's been a lot of talk about having them seize islands in the Strait, potentially even Kharg Island. The problem with that is, obviously Iran has to deal with the bottleneck of we need this big island with its deep harbors, otherwise we can't get our oil out. But if the US Takes that island, it's in the middle of a bunch of shit Iran controls, and they can fling explosives at the forces who take that island all fucking day long. It is a very bad position to be in. If you're the Marines, I don't care how well trained you are, I don't care how much support you have, that is a bad position to be in. And any military leader who has been under fire is trying very hard right now to let Trump know this will not be a low casualty endeavor, and it will not be an easy endeavor. And you will not wind up just controlling this island and being able to dictate things to Iran. You will wind up having potentially thousands of your boys held captive by Iranian forces that surround them and fling explosives at them all day long. It's a bad position to be in.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah. And this, and this is, I think part of, like, the issue with, with the Trump administration's policy here is that, like, Trump himself and the people around him just seem to have been treating the Iranian army as not a real army. And it is. No, this is, this is an actual.

[Robert Evans]

They know what they're doing.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Like, this is. This is not the Venezuelan army. Like, this is an actual army.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Like, you can't do this shit.

[Robert Evans]

There's a lot of guys left who have a lot of experience in preparing for this exact war for a very long time.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah. And who are ideologically motivated to not have the US like, invade their country. The issues here with the fact that there's no good way to open the strait, I think has been dictating a lot of what Trump's been doing with his negotiations. And I've started calling them like market negotiations because if you look at whenever Trump releases a statement. So on Monday, for example, he released a thing saying like, ah, we've entered, like, peace negotiations. And that was Monday morning as the markets were opening from a very panicky weekend where people were, it was sort of setting in that oil prices were going to be increasing. And whenever Trump does one of these speeches where he says, oh, well, we're gonna, we're gonna find some way to open the strait, or he does these, like, peace off, like, he sends this peace deal to Iran, which we don't know the details of. There was like a reported leak of it in the Israeli media, but we don't know exactly what's in it from that Israeli leak. It didn't seem to be a. I mean, it didn't seem to be something that the government would accept. Right. But the reason he's doing it is because he's trying to calm the markets down on a sort of, on a sort of day by day basis. And part of it also was that there was this whole panic that Trump had been threatening early this week to start doing all of these bombing campaigns against Iranian, like civilian power facilities and supposedly non civilian power facilities too. And then on Monday, he was like, no, no, no, we're not actually doing that. Actually, we're doing peace talks. We're pushing this off for five days. And this is again, market manipulation stuff.

[Robert Evans]

Right.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Because he watched only we're only at

[Sophie Lichterman]

war during the weekend when the markets are closed.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Female Host]

So this is what these negotiations are.

[Robert Evans]

Right.

[Unidentified Female Host]

And that's why Iran immediately like goes like, no, like, we're not, we're not in negotiations, and then released their own five point plan to end the war in which the US Would pay war damages. And they've been really consistent about this, which is the US Will pay war damages and reparations. And in this one. And also, you know, there was a whole thing about obviously like the US Stopping the war. They're being deterrent measures in place to keep the US from doing it again. They want the US to have its regional proxies stand down, which would also presumably end the other major thing that's going on in this war, which is just Israel ethnically cleansing the south of Lebanon. We just, we just released an episode about this. It's very good.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah. To make a defensive barrier.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah. And the other, the last part about this, and this is the part that I, that I, I think is the real kind of clincher here, is that it would give Iran control over the Strait of Hormuz, which is a real problem for any kind of American negotiation because this was always a thing that the Iranian government never did. Right. They had the military capacity to hold the strait. The reason they didn't do it was that it would start a war. But now you've started the war and now, like, now you've opened Pandora's box and you can't put the fact that they can do this militarily back into the box. Yeah, right. So now they're just being like, fuck it. You guys can't actually like defeat us militarily before the entire world economy collapses. Like, fuck it. Give us the straight. Now, I do want to mention something about some of the oil tankers, which is that, okay, the whole situation is Very murky. But Iran has been. I mean, obviously, it's been allowing its own tankers to go through, which is not a huge amount of oil, but it's some. We got a reported case. The statements on this were released by the Thai government and also a Thai oil company, where the Thai, basically foreign minister, like, called the Iranian government and said, hey, we have an oil tanker here. Will you let it through? And they went, yeah, sure. So there seems to be some kind of process by which countries can do some kind of negotiation with the Iranian government and be let through what exactly? The look that looks like. And the details of it are really unclear. We don't know if this is a pattern or if they were just like, yeah, sure, whatever, Thailand. You can. You can do this. But, yeah, that's kind of the state of things, I guess. I guess we should also mention there's been a bunch of reporting that the U.S. is deploying 2,000 paratroopers. I've seen both 1,000 and 2,000 cited as the number from the 82nd Airborne into the region, which presumably would be there for that, like, disastrous Carg island campaign. But, oh, boy.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Which is not boots on the ground. Because it's an island.

[Robert Evans]

It's an island. Doesn't count as the ground.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Doesn't count as the ground.

[Robert Evans]

We're good.

[Unidentified Female Host]

I. I'm so excited for us to fight an entire war in the Arctic where he's like, there's not boots on the ground because they're all wearing snowshoes.

[Robert Evans]

Can't. Can't get us there. Nope.

[Sophie Lichterman]

You see, all the Marines are wearing jet packs. They never touch the ground.

[Robert Evans]

They never touch the ground. They've got those weird. Those weird water backpacks that you fly. You can fly with if you're at the Ghost. They're not touching the ground.

[Unidentified Female Host]

They're all. They're all laying a corduroy road in front of them. So they're not technically on the ground. They're on this road. Yeah. So things continue to go badly for kind of everyone involved in this war, except, I guess, the Israelis, who are.

[Robert Evans]

They seem to be happy.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah. They seem to be having a great time doing their. Doing another ethnic cleansing, but another group of people who've been doing extremely badly as a result of this and has gotten almost no coverage in the American press to the extent that, like, I found out about. I mean, like, I was already hearing about the stuff from just, like, by friends who are Indian, which is that things are very, very bad right now in east and Southeast Asia. And just South Asia in general. Multiple countries, including, like, Thailand, for example, have either sent part or all of their government employees home and told them to just work from home because they can't afford to keep their offices open because, like, cooling the offices is too expensive. There's sort of rolling crisis, like, across the entire sort of Pacific Rim area because all of these countries are unbelievably reliant on oil, natural gas. This is also down to stuff like cooking oil, too, which they also have not been able to get. And so, you know, you can look at Sri Lanka, where there are these just enormous fuel queues because the Sri Lankan government, they're four years out from the last time that they weren't able to input oil. That one was a sort of currency crisis, balance of payments issue they were having. But the moment there was, there was a problem with the oil supply, the government started doing rationing. So now you have these massive lines for people trying to get gasoline. That's, I think, one of the worst ones in terms of just pure inability to get gasoline. So this is a problem across the region. The BBC also said. I'm just gonna read this quote from the BBC that they, quote, declared Wednesdays a public holiday.

[Robert Evans]

Sure.

[Unidentified Female Host]

So, yeah, they're just adding another day to the weekend because they can't have businesses open because businesses can't afford to, like, heat or cool themselves. They literally can't afford to keep the economy running. And variations of this are playing out all across South Asia. There's been a massive closure of industries in India. A whole bunch of restaurants. I think the estimates were about one fifth of restaurants are just gone because they can't get cooking oil. And you have these situations where, like, anything that requires, like, cooking oil, even other things that are open, like, can't be used. Gujarat, the Indian state of Gujarat has a very large ceramic industry. And it's gone. It's been gone for like a month. 80% of it is shut down. This is 400,000 people affected by this because they're using propane and there's no propane. And this, this is playing out across the region. Right. There's been some reporting about concerns in Taiwan over whether they're going to have enough sort of liquefied natural gas in order to keep their. Their ship facilities running. But Taiwan is like, kind of okay. It's places like Sri Lanka, it's places like Thailand, it's places like Myanmar, it's India, where things are getting really, really bleak really quickly. There's a story that, that kind of did make it through into the American press about how the US Temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil specifically, so that there were these tankers, Iranian tankers that weren't just at sea, and the sanctions specifically on those tankers are lifted so India could buy it. And this has been happening with Russian oil too. And the reason this is happening is that if, if you're not getting these kind of injections of oil, the situation there would be even more bleak than it already is. And obviously there's some places where just everything is continuing as normal, but you're starting to see just kind of these countries unravel because so much of their infrastructure is based on, on oil and natural gas. That's, that's, that's coming through the Gulf. And it's really fudgeing bleak. And it's something to keep in mind as, as this crisis rolls on, we're dealing with like, gas price go up, which is obviously bad in an issue. There are a shit ton of people in the world where it's like, yeah, I know, like 400,000 people are out of their jobs because their entire ceramics industry is gone.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, right.

[Unidentified Female Host]

And these are, these are not people who have money in the first place. And this is. Crisis is just going to continue as long as the Trump keeps this war going.

[Robert Evans]

So I guess we'll see how long that is.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Hopefully not long.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah, I mean, polling continues to be bad.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I'm sure Marco Rubio and J.D. vance are going to be on it as they. God, as they continue their negotiations.

[Robert Evans]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Female Host]

There's not a long list of people that I want running negotiations less than J.D. vance. But, like, it's not great. It's not great.

[Sophie Lichterman]

No, it's not great. There's no way to sugarcoat it here.

[Robert Evans]

It says something about how much fucking Kushner screwed the pooch, that Iran is like, yeah, get Vance in here.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Bring in, bring in Vance.

[Robert Evans]

Get J.D. vance in here. I don't want to talk to that other guy again.

[Unidentified Female Host]

There is like a legitimate problem they're having, which, like, there's been a lot of jokes about how like, all the DEI firings are like, fucking them. But, like, it actually is where there's like a whole bunch of the embassy staff people like, got fired because they weren't white and because the Doge people were just like, fuck it. And now it's like, I mean, this was a situation already. The US Government's like, experts on, on other countries tend to be like.

[Robert Evans]

I mean, if you look at what happened in the lead up to the Iraq War. Anyone who knew anything about Iraq as an actual subject matter expert was basically isolated and cut out of like the planning because they were all saying don't do what you're doing, it's not going to work well.

[Unidentified Female Host]

And even, even, even in administrations we regard as competent. Like I randomly like when I was at University of Chicago like going to school, I met the guy who was, who was sitcom Syria analyst. Like right when that, the beginning of the Syrian revolution and he was like reporting to Barack Obama about what was going on. And it was just like some guy like it was, it was, it was like some guy who'd gotten like an undergrad degree, right? Yeah, like, and even those guys are getting like it was just like some random asshole with, I mean like he's like new his stuff but he wasn't like a, he wasn't like an expert on this. Right. And even those people are gone. And so now you're dealing with those people who are supposed to be running these negotiations who just have like literally no idea what's going on because they fired every non white person. And so it's just catastrophic for the entire world.

[Robert Evans]

Yep. Cool.

[Sophie Lichterman]

One more ad break and we will return for a final segment giving an update on friend of the pod, Gregory Levino.

[Robert Evans]

Oh, Greg.

[Public Investing Ad Voice]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETF ETFs with infinite possibilities. Completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member finra NSIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosure pro.

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[Sophie Lichterman]

So good.

[Robert Evans]

Your bill, ladies.

[Redfin Ad Voice]

I got it.

[Mia Wong]

No, I got it. Seriously, I insist.

[Unidentified Female Host]

I insisted first.

[Mia Wong]

Don't be silly. You know, be silly.

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[Robert Evans]

Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Shoot.

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[Sophie Lichterman]

All right, we are back. Unfortunately, it's time for our reoccurring Bavino segment. Hopefully the last.

[Unidentified Female Host]

God.

[Robert Evans]

What's boving on?

[Sophie Lichterman]

He just had a very interesting interview with the New York Times.

[Robert Evans]

He did.

[Sophie Lichterman]

In which he said that before he was demoted from his role as commander at large, he had a plan at DHS to deport 100 million people. Something that DHS then tweeted about with a silly little graphic that they stole from another artist. The New York Times reported, quote, Mr. Bevino said he had a master plan that was in motion before his exile back to El Centuro. It would have neutralized protesters, he said, and made it possible to deport 100 million people. That is a goal that the Department of Homeland Security has widely promoted. If it sounds extreme, it's because it's nearly 10 times the estimated number of undocumented people in the country. It's also more than a quarter of the entire US population. Unquote. Yep. Gregory is also quoted in this piece as saying, I wish I'd caught even more illegal aliens. I mean, we went as hard as we could, but there's always a creative and innovative solution to catching more. Unquote. God, it would have been nice for a journalist to follow up on what he meant by that.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yep. Yep.

[Robert Evans]

Mm.

[Unidentified Female Host]

I wanna talk a little bit about that 100 million number because there was a New York Times report where Trump said in one meeting during the 2024 campaign, Mr. Trump said that if it was up to Mr. Miller, there would only be a hundred million people in this country and they would all look like Mr. Miller.

[Robert Evans]

Wow. Yeah, I mean that's. He's not lying.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah. You know, and he, he, I guess has the numbers reversed in that, in that the Bovino One is deport 100 billion people, which is the one that's been floating around in sort of like right wing circles and more. And this one was that there's only 100 million left. But.

[Sophie Lichterman]

And it's completely disconnected from reality and like the economic reasons for why. Yeah, these deportations are even something disconnected from the economic reasons behind this sort of immigration enforcement.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

There's just no logistical capacity.

[Unidentified Female Host]

No, they're like, it's, it's. I mean, yeah, it would be one of the largest ethnic cleansings we've ever seen, but it's a thing that like people like Miller and Bevino wants. This is kind of split that we've seen a lot in Trump administration between the people who actually want the economy to work and the people who have like some other ideological goal.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Because there's the people who just want the white ethno state. Right. And that's sort of the Bovino, like Miller wing. And then there's everyone else like Scott Best and like the treasury people who are like, holy shit. Yeah, we want, we want there that. We want that. We, we need the permanently subjugated immigrant under a class you can't deport 100. And well, this wouldn't even be the immigrant underclass. Right. This is, this is like most of the non white people in the U.S. right, who, who they're talking about deporting, who are just, you know, people here like me and obviously like, we don't know if Vivino's just lying about this because who knows it's Bovino.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But yeah, what this master plan actually looks like or what it included also not expounded upon something that the journalists at least did not get an answer out of that was then reported.

[Unidentified Female Host]

No.

[Sophie Lichterman]

It's unclear, but during Bavino's like reign at Border Patrol, this number was something that DHS mentioned as a gold multiple times. For an example, earlier this month, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy was questioning David J. Beer, Director of Immigration studies at the Cato Institute, about his criticism of dhs. And Senator Kennedy read a quote from Beers social media.

[Senator John Kennedy]

They referring to Republicans think they control their way into us accepting ethnic cleansing. End quote. Your. Your words, not mine.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Did I read that correctly?

[Robert Evans]

That was in regard to. About advocating 100 million deportations. That is what DHS has tweeted from their own account. 100 million deeper would be ethnic cleansing. You would be one third of the country. So, yes, there are people within the Department of Homeland. Homeland Security.

[Senator John Kennedy]

You don't think this is hyperbolic? Give me 30 more seconds.

[Robert Evans]

I think advocating 100 million.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I'm having fun.

[Robert Evans]

Ethnic cleansing on February 5th.

[Mia Wong]

He really thought he ate with that one. He's like.

[Robert Evans]

He was really. He was really thinking he was going to dine out on that, huh?

[Mia Wong]

Wow. What a loser.

[Unidentified Female Host]

What is rattling around in your skull that you listen to that and think you won? Like, what is happening here? God, you're having fun.

[Robert Evans]

You're having fun with that, huh? Okay.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Speaking of the Department of Homeland Security, there is a new big boss in town. Former senator Mark Wayne Mullen has been sworn in as the new DHS secretary. During his confirmation hearings, Mullen said he regrets calling Alex Preddy a quote, deranged individual who came to cause max damage.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Those words probably should have been retracted. I shouldn't have said that. And, Secretary, I wouldn't. The investigation is ongoing. And there is, like I said, there's sometimes going to make mistake. And I own it. That one. I went out there too fast. I was responding immediately. Without the facts. That's my fault. That won't happen as secretary.

[Unidentified Female Host]

So you. You regret that statement?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I already said that. Yes, sir. Would you want to apologize to the

[Unidentified Female Host]

family of Alex Predding?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, sir, I just said I regret those statements. Is that the same as an apology? I haven't seen the investigation. We'll let the investigation go through. And if I'm proven wrong, then I will. Absolutely.

[Robert Evans]

Is that the same as an apology? Oh, God, man, just speak like a person. Do we got to bring Mr. Rogers in here to tell you what an apology is? Come on, bro.

[Mia Wong]

I also, there's been a lot of discourse about his name being Mark Wayne. You can't tell me that guy doesn't look like a Mark Wayne.

[Robert Evans]

He looks like a Mark Wayne.

[Mia Wong]

He looks like a Mark Wayne. Thank you so much. He's. Jesus Christ. Just say sorry, dude.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Later on in this same hearing, Mullen defended the actions of the officer who killed Renee Good saying, quote, it's very clear that an officer had to make a split decision in that case. Throughout these hearings, Mullen reiterated that he wants to keep the agency out of the news. Quote, my goal in six months is that we are not in the lead story every single day, unquote. When questioned about what ICE reforms he would be willing to put into law, Mullins said that a quote, unquote, better approach would be working with local municipalities.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I would love to see ICE become a transport more than the front line. If we get back, if we can get back into just simply working with law enforcement, we're going to them and we're picking up these criminals from their jail one. We're going to reimburse them for having the person there. And partnership is vitally important. I don't think there needs to be a wall to change that. I think I can work within what is there, but there's an approach that can happen, but we got to have partners.

[Sophie Lichterman]

What he's trying to do here is essentially blame ICE overreach on sanctuary city policies, saying that ICE would need to be in all these places, being on the ground if sanctuary cities would just cooperate with ICE for removal operations. In response to a question about ICE and CBP illegally entering people's homes, Mullen said, quote, we will not enter a home or a place of business without a judicial warrant unless we're pursuing an individual that runs into a place of business or, or residence or a house, unquote. If this is true, this definitely is a partial movement still with this exception, but a partial movement from the so called administrative warrants which became popular under

[Unidentified Female Host]

Christine Noem, which big if like it.

[Sophie Lichterman]

I, I think as, like James has said before, I think there is like the wind is changing a little bit, but I mean it could very easily change back the other way. It is, it is simply too soon to, to say and obviously none of these things will be like, satisfactory. ICE should not exist as an agency.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah.

[Sophie Lichterman]

But it is interesting to, to see the Trump administration slowly adjust towards pressure being put on ICE from the public. At Mullen's swearing in ceremony, Trump said, quote, generally speaking, Mark Wayne would be very much in favor of what I'm in favor of. He might be worse. He might be worse than me.

[Donald Trump]

Oh, no, so generally speaking, I think I can answer that. Mark Wayne would be very much in favor of what I'm in favor of. Would you say that's right, Mark, I can't think of too many things. He might be worse. He might be worse than me. That's my look at his wife and say that's right. But so yeah, he's going to be great.

[Sophie Lichterman]

So we'll see. We'll see what that turns out to be.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Great stuff. Great stuff.

[Mia Wong]

These people are so bizarre. Like they can't talk. They sound ridiculous. Nightmare that that's my only takes they can't do nor they can't human.

[Sophie Lichterman]

If you would like to send us a news tip relevant for news purposes, you can do so at Cool Zone Tips. Proton me again. For news related tips only, put a

[Unidentified Female Host]

trans girl on your couch.

[Sophie Lichterman]

We reported the news.

[Robert Evans]

We reported the news.

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We reported the news.

[Unidentified Female Host]

It could happen.

[Mia Wong]

Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can now find sources for It Could Happen here listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.

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[Sophie Lichterman]

wasn't that delicious. So good.

[Robert Evans]

Your bill, ladies.

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[Mia Wong]

No, I got it. Seriously, I insist.

[Unidentified Female Host]

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[Mia Wong]

Oh, don't be silly. You don't be silly.

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[Robert Evans]

Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors.

[Sophie Lichterman]

Shoot.

[Robert Evans]

No.

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[Sophie Lichterman]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Mia Wong]

Guaranteed Human.