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Lisa Booth
This is an iHeart podcast.
Ryan Seacrest
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Lisa Booth
Welcome to the Truth with Lisa Booth, where we get to the heart of the issues that matter to you. So today we're joined by Jeremy Hunt. He's a West Point grad, a former army intelligence captain, and he's also the chairman of Veterans on Duty. We'll dive into President Trump's plans to broker a Russia, Ukraine peace deal. Also a nuclear deal with Iran. Can he do it? Can he get it done? Can he achieve peace? Germany also shares insights on Ukraine's military Pete Hexis role as Secretary of Defense. Those rising recruiting numbers, why did he decide to go to West Point? What does he make of those numbers? We know that recruitment numbers are up under this administration. We'll also talk about how President Trump has changed the way we all view the military and foreign policy. Plus, we'll unpack Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visa crackdown on Chinese students. It's shaking up US China relations. But doesn't it just make sense? Isn't it just common sense? Stay tuned for all that and more with Jeremy Hunt.
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Lisa Booth
Well, Jeremy, it's great to have you on the show first time on, but we've done Outnumbered together and actually ran into you on the Delta Lounge after that. I was like, I know him well. So I appreciate you making the time. So thank you for that.
Ryan Seacrest
Absolutely. Thanks for having me. I've been looking forward to joining your show, so I'm happy to, to, to join and talk, talk about some things a little bit. Maybe go in a little bit more depth today. And I'm excited.
Lisa Booth
Yeah. I will not be in your ear telling you that it's. We've got to go to a commercial break. So obviously we both love tv, but, you know, you've got those commercial breaks, so. All right, well, so I wanted to talk to you. I mean, obviously there's a lot going on in the world and Joe Biden left everything a complete mess. There's a lot of instability that President Trump's trying to address. He's also just trying to strike a lot of deals. I mean, he's been talking about trying to facilitate a deal between Russia and Ukraine and some sort of ceasefire and whatever that will look like. He's also trying to negotiate with Iran and come up with some sort of nuclear deal. You know, looking at both of those, do you think he'll get it done?
Ryan Seacrest
Well, you know, that's one of the things that a lot of these kind of talks, it's always, you know, a little unpredictable when you're dealing with people like Putin who, you know, did start this war. He's someone who is, you know, constantly, as President Trump said, you know, he is, he is not someone you can, you're not someone you can trust. He's someone who, you know, in the middle of these talks, you know, unleashes one of the worst air raids on Kyiv that we've seen just since the beginning of this war. So, you know, it's a lot of times it is a little unpredictable. I think one thing we know about President Trump is that, you know, he wants peace. He wants to, he wants to end the bloodshed. And his, his kind of instinctive nature is, is very, you know, someone who wants to be a peacemaker around the world. And I think those instincts are really good. And I think that's why we're going to get different results than we did under President Biden, who was, as you, as you mentioned, was a total disaster. On all these issues and all, and many, and all these war it under his watch. I think when it comes to Russia and, and Ukraine, the main thing is going to be a lot of times, you know, Putin, sometimes he does not respond until he feels the pressure he feels, you know, when we start bringing on additional kind of sanctions upon, upon his regime, when he starts feeling the economic tightness of everything, when he is, when the rest of the world community shuts him out, that's when, you know, you start to see different results. But unfortunately, a lot of times when it's, you know, just having a conversation with him and talking to him, you know, he will say one thing and then, you know, as he's talking to you about peace, he is, you know, killing more and more Ukrainian soldiers and literally kidnapping people. I mean, the reports that have come out of Ukraine are horrendous about some of the war crimes that Putin and his, and his, and his armed forces have been committing against the, the Ukrainian people. And, you know, I've been there. I, I was actually when I was a officer in the army, as you know, I was a former army intelligence captain. And when I was in Ukraine, I was there for about six months, and we were training the Ukrainian armed forces. This was back in 2016. And so Putin had already invaded Crimea, but he was, you know, back then we were training for this hypothetical situation in which he might invade Ukraine. And, you know, what was, you know, just kind of this, what was then just kind of a, a what could be, you know, ended up being what happened, obviously. And we were there training the Ukrainian armed forces, especially their intel systems, intel officers on NATO doctrine. And so it was a great, it was a great mission. And I saw that, you know, the Ukrainian people, they have a will to fight. They, they are not going to, you know, give over their country. Many people thought that, you know, Putin would just roll right through Ukraine. I mean, many, myself included, we didn't. We had, you know, very much concern about Ukraine's ability to defend themselves, but they've done, they've had a, definitely a valiant effort. And so I think now it's time to get to peace. And I think you're seeing President Trump try to deliver on that.
Lisa Booth
Yeah, because I mean, my mentality has always been that, you know, obviously, you know, Russia was in the wrong to invade Ukraine. I mean, that's just a given. But, you know, that being said, you know, I don't think Ukraine can win this thing on their own. And so we've already, you know, sent an endless bucket of cash to Ukraine. And it seems that absent of us and other countries putting boots on the ground and demonstrating a willingness to fight this war alongside them, like they can't win it on their own. And so inevitably, Zelensky is probably going to have to cede some territory. You know, obviously Russia has already invaded Crimea and has had that territory for quite some time, as you pointed out. And then there's also like the Donbass region that Russia has invaded and has occupied since the beginning of that invasion under Biden, you know, so it doesn't seem in terms of militarily, this war is winnable for Ukraine outside of some sort of world war type scenario. Is that an accurate assessment? Or.
Ryan Seacrest
I mean, I think that first off, I mean, there's no appetite to, I mean, American troops are not putting boots on the ground at all. And I think that, you know, as you said, we've sent, you know, tons of aid over to Ukraine. I do think that President Biden sent, you know, lethal. What? Lethal aid way too late. And we saw this build up on their border, you know, long before. And there's a lot of people who say that if he had moved quicker to give Ukraine the resources that they need, that this would not have started in the first place. But that being said, though, I'm at, you know, one thing that we see with President Trump is that a lot of NATO is stepping up their commitments and that's something that we have not seen in a long time. I don't know if, I mean, if they've ever come in, increase their military spending at this level, this rate in recent history. And so that is a testament to President Trump, you know, increasing the, putting the, putting the pressure on and saying, look, we want to get this war to an end. And, you know, Americans, we will, we are, you know, we did our part to support, but we need NATO and Eastern Europe to do their part, too. And so I think, you know, with all that support, you know, Ukraine is going to, as I said, they're going to, they're fighting for their homeland, so they're going to continue, you know, giving it all they can. I think that what you're going to see is the, and hopefully the appetite in Russia and at home for this war will continue to wane. And, and then eventually, you know, we could see this come to an end. But I think that's what everybody is hoping for at this point.
Lisa Booth
Yeah, but it just seems sort of inevitable at this point that Zelensky is going to have to cede some territory to Russia. I mean, there doesn't seem like they're going to be able to expel them militarily, you know, completely from their country. And if you're Russia, I highly doubt that Putin's gonna get out unless he's, you know, getting something from it. Like getting something from that exit.
Ryan Seacrest
Yeah, no, he's, he's no doubt going to try to get, you know, something out of this. He's, he's looking for an off ramp to be able to say that, you know, this war was a success, that it was all worthwhile. You know, he's looking for some type of way to, to try to claim victory here. And so, you know, I, I am not a total expert, so I have no idea how this is going to ultimately end. You know, I don't think anyone has a, a crystal ball to see how this is all going to play out. But I think that we are on, I think we're on the right track with, you know, a lot of President Trump's, you know, comments saying, look, we're, we're here to make peace and, and on we, he wants to make sure that there's, that both sides are willing to do what it takes to get, to get to the end. And so I think that's a, you know, a positive development.
Lisa Booth
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Lisa Booth
President Trump just completely reshaped, I think, how the Republican Party views foreign policy. Like even being in the Middle east recently. Just, you know, the, the, what was it? The, the future of the Middle east is commerce, not chaos. Like even sort of using his business acumen to, to try to forge those relationships through business development, which is also sort of like a mutually, a mutual security guarantee as well, like what he was trying to do in Ukraine with the mining as well. And also just, you know, peace through strength. Right. That maybe we don't need to deploy our troops to still keep a world order and to still keep that respect and to still, you know, be respected. Has he changed, you know, you just mentioned, you know, you served. Has he changed your perspective on how we engage troops and, and how we should use our military? I know he's changed mine, but I also didn't serve. So just interested in your opinion.
Ryan Seacrest
Yeah, I mean, I think that, I mean, peace through strength. I think he is, it's obviously something that, a slogan that started even in the Reagan era. And for many of us, this isn't something that we've been, you know, talking about for so long and hoping for that we would have a president like President Trump who would really actually, you know, put teeth to that. And, and so that's why, you know, I think that a lot of the actions that we're seeing taken right now with President Trump saying, look, you know, I'll give you a perfect example. And you mentioned the Middle East. You know, the Houthis were attacking American troops. They were attacking really vital shipping lanes in, in, in that part of the world. And one of the issues that we're seeing is that even our prices on different products here at home were, were taking a hit because we can't get products, you know, through those, through those key shipping routes. And so the Houthis were causing all sorts of issues for the United States, for Europe. And here we had President Trump come in and say, look, actually, we're not doing this anymore and, you know, destroy the Houthis. And, and we're seeing, you know, a lot of positive results at the end of that. So, you know, he means action. And I think that when we invest in our military, give them the support they need, I love seeing the pay raises to the troops that are included in this, this, this one big, beautiful bill, as it's called, that will hopefully be passed through the Senate, hopefully be passed here soon. But, you know, that's. Those are the kind of things that takes, I think we have to build up our military, invest in our military, so that we can keep a pace with the threat. I mean, and the threat is, is serious. We have China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, all major powers that are basically coming together. We're seeing, they're kind of coalescing, working together to sow chaos and to. And to really defeat the west in the United States. And so it's, I think it's important now more than ever if you want to have peace through strength, is to make sure that we are strengthening our military. We're investing in the, and all the different AI and technology and drone capabilities. We got to look at cyberspace. I mean, it's on so many different domains. Space is a major one. If you want our troops to have GPS signal when they're deployed, you know, anywhere in the world, that GPS signal is often very weak and can be, you know, it can get hacked. I mean, there's just so many different levels of investment that we need. And so that's, I think what's ultimately going to keep our enemies at bay is when we show that we have the capability to fight. And, and one thing, one of my favorite moments, I'll end with this. One of my favorite moments with President Trump was The unleashing the F47, you know, the new airframe that he's releasing, and we're going to be producing here. United States, look, that those are the kind of actions that I think our enemies are taking note of. And so I think him and Secretary Hegseth are doing a great job in terms of showing the world that, look, the United States is not playing around, you might have thought that the last four years under Biden that, you know, we were, you know, just going to roll over and take, you know, whatever happens around the world, we'll just accept the status quo. But that is over with President Trump in office.
Lisa Booth
But I also think in order to be able to do that, you know, these other nations need to know that we're serious and that, you know, you can't have peace through strength unless you have the strength, right? And so, like, under Biden, when he made these threats, like, no one believed them, obviously, as evidenced by, you know, Putin doing whatever he wants in Iran via Hamas doing whatever it wanted, or like, even Obama when he drew all the red lines with Syria and Assad was like, okay, whatever. You know what I mean? It's like, you have to, like, it has to be believable. And like with Trump, when, you know, when you start out of the gate in 2016 dropping the motherball bombs and, you know, sending the Tomak missiles to Syria or like, later in his presidency taking out Qasem Soleimani, like, these guys, like, these bad actors know that, like, he's not effing around, right? Like, it's, you know, when he, when he makes threats, like, he will do it.
Ryan Seacrest
That's exactly right. You know, they, they know that he is not someone who minces words and that when he says something, he means it. And that is so important for America's credibility around the globe.
Lisa Booth
No, we're saying these military recruitment numbers have gone up under the Trump administration, which is great. You're a West Point guy, so you signed up to serve. Why did you sign up to serve? And then also, you know, why do you think those numbers are up? And how significant is that?
Ryan Seacrest
Yeah, well, it's very significant. I'll start with, with my own story. I, you know, I didn't grow up in a, in a military family, so to speak. My grandparents served, but they passed away when I was really young, so I didn't really get a chance to talk to them about it. But, you know, in my house that I grew up, my parents, they told me that the highest honor is to serve God and serve your country, country. And those are the things that I always took to heart. And so I knew when I, I was in high school and I joined jrotc, the high school junior ROTC program, and, you know, walking around our high school in uniforms, I mean, it was, it was, it was something that, you know, my friends made fun of me for a little while until they realized I was really serious about this. And I ended up, you know, deciding I wanted to go to West Point and was thankful and I had people that worked with me and got in shape and was going on to West Point and was there for four years. Graduated in 2015 and I commissioned as an Army Intelligence captain. Well, commissioned Army Intelligence lieutenant and then rose to the rank of captain. And, and you know, during that time, it was. I wanted to. First I knew that, you know, this country has given us so many amazing privileges. Freedom. I mean, just the freedom to be on this podcast with you, to say what we think and to be able to talk and to talk about our government and not be in fear of being taken off the air or thrown in jail. We take those freedoms for granted. But around the world, that is just not the case. And I know we know that freedom is not free. We just had Memorial Day, and obviously there are many people that shed much blood for us to enjoy these freedoms. And so for me, I wanted to give back and serve my country. And it was really the privilege of a lifetime to do that. And with the recruitment numbers, as you pointed out, the numbers under President Biden, the numbers had stooped so low, every single branch was struggling with recruitment. And if you asked the Biden administration at the time, they would just say, oh, well, it's just the environment. Unemployment rate is a little lower right now, so therefore people aren't coming in, in the military as much. I mean, it's just they had all these excuses, you know, the pool, I mean, and some of those, you know, are factors perhaps. But there it wasn't a total answer for how we, for the first time since the advent of the all volunteer force in the 70s, since we got rid of the draft, basically, you know, we had all volunteer force. Why Recruitment numbers were at an all time low since the advent of the. Of all volunteer force. I mean, decades low. And so really what we know is that a lot of folks at home when they're seeing, you know, commercials for their military that are all about a social agenda and, and all about, you know, you can experiment in any kind of, you know, social agenda you want in the military. We will do your surgery if you want to. You know, if you're transgender, we'll pay for your surgery. We'll do all this. You know, we. We are also. Many people at home were told that the military is somehow racist. You know, if you recall, one of the first things that the Biden administration did, Lloyd Austin, as Secretary of Defense, one of the first things he did was do US a force wide stand down to root out, quote unquote, white supremacy and root out extremism in the ranks. And of course they found nothing because it was a made up story. It was all for politics, all for, you know, really just trying to virtue signal, I guess for the left. I mean it was, it was a total mess. And that's what I think is the real reason why we saw those numbers drop so low is that who wants to join the military to be a part of a social experiment? You want to join the military to kill bad guys. And so now we're seeing the total shift under President Trump and Secretary Hexith. If you even look at the, the commercial, the ads that you see now, they're all about, you know, our soldiers, men and women, you know, killing bad guys. You see our fighter jets, but you see the whole force of the American military and it's inspiring. And I think that's why we're seeing a lot of the numbers bounce back. And so now a lot of those recruiting lulls have become a recruiting boom. And so, and that all that is under this, this administration. So that it's, it's very exciting. Many of us have been talking about this. I testified before the House Oversight Committee committee about this crisis during the Biden administration. I was on the national independent panel for Military Service and Readiness that then Congressman Mike Waltz appointed me to. We've been talking about this for a long time. As you know, I'm part of a group called Veterans on Duty. I'm chairman of the board of Veterans on Duty. And we're a 501c4 policy advocacy organization made up of veterans who care deeply about our military and about a lot of these issues. And this recruitment crisis was something that we talked about quite a bit. And so now that we're finally seeing positive results, it is very heartening for many of us who have been, you know, on the front lines of this effort.
Lisa Booth
And what were your takeaways in the testimony? Because, you know, my understanding is it was getting so bad that like, if we had another major war, like we might not have enough people like, you know what I mean? Like, we're not prepared in terms of manpower. So, you know, what, what kind of were your takeaways or that you had learned in the testimony that, that people should know that were concerning.
Ryan Seacrest
Oh man. I mean, it's worse back in like, you know, 2021, 2022, the, the, I'll give you an example. We were, if you look at the army, just, just the army and Again, this was, this was the crisis spread to all the branches. But I'll just zoom in on the army, my branch for a second. If you look at the army, the, the numbers were so low, we were thousands of soldiers short. It would missing an entire division. So I, I was 3rd Infantry Division. I was stationed at Fort Stewart in near Savannah, Georgia. And that entire, it would be like the equivalent of all of 3rd ID missing in action if we were to go into a major, you know, major conflict. That is, it was a serious crisis. And of course, you know, me, the, the, you know, the legacy media didn't want to talk about it and, you know, they made it sound like, you know, Republicans are just making up this crisis, that we are just, you know, looking for reasons to criticize Biden. But as we know, they tend to cover up a lot of things. And yeah, it was actually a very serious crisis that thank God, we averted. And now with President Trump in office, we're seeing again all those numbers increasing. And I think that's a trajectory that's going to continue because the Pentagon, led by Secretary Hegseth is, is going, is returning to lethality. That is the key that the, the purpose of the military is to deter, fight and win our nation's wars. That's it. There's no other agenda. It's not about social experimentation. It's not about be all you can be, you know, in terms of, you know, diversity is our strength. It's all, it's all about deterring, fighting and winning our nation's wars. And so that is the key, I think, that we're going to see that's going to win. That's going to, it's really going to strengthen our military and ultimately deter our adversaries going forward.
Lisa Booth
Do you think he's doing a good job? PETE hegstaff, SECRETARY of DEFENSE I do.
Ryan Seacrest
I do. He is someone who, he's been, you know, very much focused on returning to lethality. He's, he's made sure we've gotten rid of all the distractions, all the things that, you know, are just, you know, when I was in the military, you'd have all these ridiculous trainings. And you've got, you know, diversity training. You've got all these different trainings on all these, on everything except for the core mission. And so we would run out of time on actually training our core, our core tasks and our military tasks and drills because we were so focused on other types of, you know, social campaigns that the, you know, the President, Biden and others, you Know, had when I was in, it was President Obama for most of that time, but and then President Trump towards the end. But, you know, it was all about, you know, these different, you know, experimenting, you know, so that kind of stuff, it was distracting. And I think we're seeing Secretary Hegseth is returning to our core fundamentals. And so and then I think also we're seeing, we're getting rid of a lot of the civilian bloat that's been kind of plaguing the Pentagon for many years. We have so many, I mean, just thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands of da civilians and contractors and folks who, you know, many of them are vital to our mission and we're thankful for them, but a lot of them were not. And so we're seeing a lot of kind of relooking at how we're spending our funds, how we're spending our resources, who, you know, needs. When we have redundancies, we can get rid of those. He's making the Department of Defense much more efficient, and that's really important. And it starts from the top down. And he's also enabling commanders to do what they need to do to train their soldiers and to be prepared to deploy at a moment's notice.
Lisa Booth
Before we go, obviously there was a big, big focus on illegal immigration under the Biden administration, one of the top reasons President Trump won. But now of have this broader focus on legal immigration, particularly visas and the revoking of, you know, student visas and, and various visas. Secretary Marco Rubio announced recently that we're going to aggressively revoke visas for, for Chinese students. I mean, doesn't that just make sense? Like, why would we. We know that there's been issues with like, Chinese spies here in America and by the way, like Russian spies we've had before. So, like, what wouldn't we be very judicious about the individuals we let into this country from enemy nations or even individuals from countries and areas of the world that have hostile opinions and feelings towards America. Like that just to me seems like common sense.
Ryan Seacrest
It is common sense and I, and I applaud Secretary Rubio with this decision. It's been an issue that we've even at veterans on duty, we talked about this before, is there are a lot of students are coming here, are these Chinese visas who are literally many of them spying on behalf of the Chinese government. We saw that at different schools even, even in places you would even suspect in Wichita, Kansas, of all places, where my wife's family is from, at certain colleges there, there was evidence of literally Chinese students there who are agents on behalf of the ccp. And so now the left is going to try to make this all about oh, we're discriminating against, you know, Chinese people and all this stuff. Now we're dealing with specifically Chinese citizens and especially those who have ties to the CCP who we are just allowing to work in our work in our universities. Sprayed spread a lot of their, you know, the, a lot of the CCP's talking points and also collect information. And so I think it's a smart choice. But remember, and it's not just this, China is moving on all fronts against our country. I'll give you a couple more examples. Right now there are Chinese state sponsored, so sponsored by the TCP that are these hackers that are literally able to access our own home WI fi routers. There's a WI fi router made by a company by the way, all this is, is public. You can see this on, it's in several reports about this. Wall Street Journal had a article about this, there was a congressional hearing about it. There's a company called TP Link that makes these WI fi routers and they are a Chinese founded company. Most of their operations are still in China. They are and what they are doing is they have these WI fi routers. So you go and you buy a router and you put it in your home, you know, think nothing of it. And what they're able to do is to hack into your router. And of course it's not your home that they, they want. Their target is United States infrastructure, transportation infrastructure. But what they're able to do is to shield themselves as if they, and it will appear as just a normal American citizen home router. But actually they're using that to pre position themselves to attack American infrastructure. Our transportation sector, our water sector, our, I mean telecommunications, you name it. So there are so many attacks on the United States that we aren't even seeing or paying attention to. So we're seeing it with a lot of Chinese students in the universities. We're seeing it in our infrastructure with these routers, with this TP link which by the way, TP Link, if you go to Amazon, TP Link is often one of the first routers you see that are recommended. They're selling this, they're manufacturing it for cheap. And by the way, reports are saying that Department of Justice, Trump's Department of Justice is now investigating this as well as the Department of Commerce because they're selling these routers for treat for cheap to make sure, they take over the market. So they make sure that all the routers in the United States are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. I mean, it's, it's their, it's their play. And then we saw it, you know, the spy base. Now they have spy bases 90 miles off the coast of Florida and then Cuba. They have seen them expand that. Of course, everybody remembers the Chinese spy balloons. I mean, it is, it's on all fronts, agriculture. They are buying up American farmland, especially land that is near military bases. They want to control our food security here in the United States. They've actually now they want to control a lot of the inputs that our farmers rely on to grow their crops. One of the products they use is, it's called glyphosate. They use it to attack weeds. It's a weed killer. And it's. And they use it at the major level. Commercial farmers use that to protect their crops. Well, now China wants to take over that entire industry. And now we've seen them do that. And now they're the majority of those key products that our farmers need to grow our prop. To grow crops for us here in the United States, again controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. So it is a very dangerous time we're in. And I'm so thankful that Secretary Rubio has taken action. We're seeing, and we're seeing it all over government. I mean, Secretary, Homeland Security is looking at it. I mean, this is finally, people are waking up to this and it's a significant threat. And I think we're finally taking steps in the right direction.
Lisa Booth
Action. Yeah, absolutely. And then last thing before we go, what can you tell us about veterans on duty?
Ryan Seacrest
Yeah, so we, we are, as I mentioned, we're 501c4 policy advocacy organization made up of veterans around the country. Most of us are veterans of the global war on terrorism, but we have veterans of all different eras as well. And many of us, we, we care about these issues, about having a strong national security, having a strong border, making sure our military is, has the funding that they need to fight our nation's wars and the resources they need to do that. We make sure that we are not as talked about doing, running experiments with our military, but actually focusing on lethality. And so we care a lot about these issues and making sure that America is strong, stronger than ever. And that is something, as we always say, we didn't end our service when we took off our uniform. For us, our service continues. And we do that through, through advocacy and advocating for policies that we will that will keep America safe, strong and free.
Lisa Booth
Jeremy Hunt, appreciate you making the time. Great to catch up and hope to see you soon.
Ryan Seacrest
Thank you. Thanks for having me. Lisa.
Lisa Booth
That was Jeremy Hunt. We appreciate him for making the time for the show. Appreciate you guys at home for listening every Tuesday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week. Until next time.
Ryan Seacrest
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Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Episode: The Truth with Lisa Booth: Foreign Policy, Recruitment, and the Future of the Military
Release Date: May 29, 2025
Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
Guest: Jeremy Hunt, West Point graduate, former Army Intelligence Captain, and Chairman of Veterans on Duty
In this episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, hosted by Lisa Booth, Jeremy Hunt joins to discuss a range of critical topics, including President Trump's foreign policy initiatives, military recruitment trends, and the evolving dynamics of U.S. military strategy. The conversation delves deep into the implications of current policies on national security and the future of the military.
Facilitating Peace Deals
Jeremy Hunt provides insights into President Trump's efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, as well as negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran. He discusses the viability of these initiatives and the challenges posed by key figures like Vladimir Putin.
"Putin is someone who is, you know, constantly, as President Trump said, he is not someone you can trust. [...] he will say one thing and then, as he's talking to you about peace, he is killing more and more Ukrainian soldiers and literally kidnapping people."
— Jeremy Hunt [09:35]
Hunt emphasizes Trump's instinctive desire to be a peacemaker, contrasting it with the perceived shortcomings of the previous administration.
"I think one thing we know about President Trump is that he wants peace. He wants to, he wants to end the bloodshed."
— Jeremy Hunt [09:35]
NATO and International Support
Jeremy highlights the increased commitments from NATO under Trump's leadership, noting a revitalized support system for Ukraine that contrasts sharply with prior administrations.
"We are going to get different results than we did under President Biden, who was, as you mentioned, a total disaster."
— Jeremy Hunt [09:35]
Surge in Recruitment Numbers
Under President Trump's administration, military recruitment numbers have significantly rebounded from historic lows experienced during the Biden administration. Jeremy attributes this resurgence to a shift in messaging and policy focus.
"Now we're seeing the total shift under President Trump and Secretary Hexith. [...] that have been, do sense back, we're seeing a lot of the numbers bounce back."
— Jeremy Hunt [27:07]
Factors Influencing Recruitment
Hunt discusses the impact of military advertising that emphasizes duty and action over social agendas, which has resonated with potential recruits.
"We will do your surgery if you want to. We'll pay for your surgery. [...] we're looking for reasons to criticize Biden."
— Jeremy Hunt [27:07]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Role
Jeremy praises Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for focusing on returning the military to its core mission of deterrence, fight, and victory, removing distractions like excessive diversity training.
"He's making the Department of Defense much more efficient, and that's really important."
— Jeremy Hunt [34:35]
Hegseth's efforts to streamline operations and eliminate redundancies are highlighted as key factors in enhancing military efficiency and readiness.
Visa Crackdowns on Chinese Students
The discussion transitions to Secretary Marco Rubio's recent directive to revoke visas for Chinese students, addressing national security concerns regarding espionage and intellectual property theft.
"Chinese students [...] spying on behalf of the Chinese government."
— Jeremy Hunt [37:27]
Hunt elaborates on various methods employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to infiltrate and undermine U.S. infrastructure and agriculture, emphasizing the importance of stringent visa policies.
"There are so many attacks on the United States that we aren't even seeing or paying attention to."
— Jeremy Hunt [37:27]
Role of Veterans on Duty
As Chairman of Veterans on Duty, Jeremy outlines the organization's mission to advocate for policies that strengthen national security, support military readiness, and uphold America's strategic interests.
"We make sure that we are not [...] but actually focusing on lethality."
— Jeremy Hunt [41:35]
He underscores the continuous service of veterans through advocacy, ensuring that military strength and national security remain paramount.
Peace Through Strength
The conversation culminates with a mutual agreement on the principle of "peace through strength." Jeremy asserts that a robust and well-funded military is essential in deterring adversaries and maintaining global stability.
"When we show that we have the capability to fight, [...] that's what ultimately keeping our enemies at bay."
— Jeremy Hunt [26:48]
Optimistic Trajectory
Jeremy expresses optimism about the current trajectory of U.S. foreign policy and military readiness under President Trump's administration, believing that sustained efforts will lead to significant advancements in national security and international relations.
"I think that's what everybody is hoping for at this point."
— Jeremy Hunt [15:17]
"Putin is someone who is not someone you can trust."
— Jeremy Hunt [09:35]
"We will do your surgery if you want to. We'll pay for your surgery."
— Jeremy Hunt [27:07]
"Peace through strength is to make sure that we are strengthening our military."
— Jeremy Hunt [26:48]
"We didn't end our service when we took off our uniform. For us, our service continues."
— Jeremy Hunt [41:41]
Jeremy Hunt's insights provide a comprehensive overview of the current state and future direction of U.S. foreign policy and military strategy. His emphasis on effective leadership, robust recruitment, and stringent national security measures offers a perspective aimed at reinforcing America's position on the global stage.
For those interested in these critical issues, this episode serves as an informative resource, capturing the depth of discussion between Lisa Booth and Jeremy Hunt.