← The Isabel Brown Show
The Isabel Brown Show
Inside the Trump Admin’s Plan To Save America – ft. Secretaries Turner, RFK, and Burgum
00:56:28
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- [00:00]
Isabel Brown
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- [00:31]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
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- [01:02]
Isabel Brown
Aka one year of the Trump administration 47 I keep thinking back to a year ago today that I was here in Washington, dc. I hadn't yet moved here. It was freezing like death defying cold to the point that they actually moved the inauguration inside. And a year ago right now, I was In Speaker Mike Johnson's office previewing all of the setup for President Trump's swearing in as the 47th President of the United States. Then I had the coldest night of my life trying to get into the Inauguration ball. If you know, you know it's a good story now, but it was terrible. Then here we are though, one year later and it is just so, so surreal that we have been asked to be here by the White House to be a part of their media row celebrating the accomplishments of the first year of the Trump administration and previewing everything to expect in the next 365 days. Cannot wait to bring you guys with. Happy January 20, aka one full year of the Trump Administration in office. We are at the White House today in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building getting to interview several members of the Presidential Cabinet about their wins from the first year of the Trump administration and what we can expect from the next 365 days. Because Lord knows these people never have a day off. They are working 24, 7, 365 and are just so, so incredible. As I've gotten to know several of the Cabinet secretaries this year it has been amazing to have a front row seat to everything they are doing behind the scenes that never gets coverage in the mainstream media. And it has been such a pleasure to get to know them as real people with such servant hearts trying to make this country a better place for every single American citizen. Today we have been asked by the White House to speak sit down with Secretary Turner of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary Kennedy over at HHS who I know you guys are very excited to hear from, and Secretary Burgum at the Department of Interior to talk about what we can reasonably expect from the next year in the Trump administration and everything we are very very grateful for in this first year of public service to them. It is such a pleasure to be back at the White House. Just so unbelievably surreal that this is like real life. Somehow I still cannot quite wrap my head around it. A year ago today I was over on Capitol Hill with Secretary or with Speaker Johnson's office and we were previewing the Rotunda before the Presidential inauguration. If you guys remember last year it was so cold in Washington D.C. that we literally could not stand outside. It was horrible. Like the cold I experienced going into the inauguration Ball in particular will never forget. My feet will never recover and I was six months pregnant so I deserve some extra credit for all of that. But they moved the Presidential inauguration inside and we were there with Speaker Johnson office getting to preview what the setup for that looks like and get a chance to ask him about what to expect over in Congress from the last year. And now fast forward. Here we are one year later. My show is with Daily Wire. We're interviewing three members of the Presidential Cabinet. All of the experiences I've had over the last year have just been so unbelievably surreal and this administration truly is so dedicated to giving you guys a front row seat and a view into what's happening from the behind the scenes perspective with new media and independent creators which which I'm so unbelievably grateful for. So all of that to be said, let's get started by sitting down with Secretary Turner of Housing and Urban Development to talk about how we can make housing more affordable for young people and reviving the American dream of owning your own home for Gen Z. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for taking some time out of your very busy now entering second year of the administration as our HUD Secretary. I'm so excited to finally get to ask you about housing because this is one of the, if not the most important issues for young people with Gen Z Americans coming into adulthood today. And I'm so grateful we finally have an administration that's so tuned into making the American dream possible for young people. For those that maybe aren't following HUD very closely or the impact that you are making, can you give us an overview of the last year with what the admin has been doing on that front?
- [05:07]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
For sure. And Isabel, I'm so happy to be with you. You know, it is a great honor to serve at hud. You know, as a secretary, we have a tremendous team. Before we came into hud, you know, HUD had really lost its focus on the mission. And so we've been very intentional about being mission minded as it pertains to housing, as it pertains to disaster recovery, homelessness. These are some of the areas that we handle at hud. But when you look at this last year, working with President Trump, as you see President Trump doesn't waste any time in the comments and things. And so we want to be of the same mindset. And so I'm very proud of HUD and our team. You know, we've helped over 1 million people to become homeowners through our FHA and Jeannie Mae programs. We're actually making public housing safe housing because when people live in public housing, they're some of our most vulnerable people in our country. And there's a lot of crime and nefarious activity goes on in public housing. And so we have been very laser focused on making public housing safe housing. Also we got rooted out DEI at HUD where discriminatory actions were being used. We want to get rid of DEI and serve the American people. We believe in equal rights, not extra rights. And so that's part of our stewardship effort at housing. And so it has been a tremendous year at hud. We signed memorandum the understanding with DHS to make sure, and this is important for the American people to understand to make sure that HUD funded housing goes only to American citizens. Hard working taxpayer money goes to the American people that are in most need as it pertains to HUD funding. And so there's been a remarkable year thus far. It's been a quick year, but there's a lot of work to be done.
- [06:48]
Isabel Brown
I'm so glad you brought up immigration because I think for so many people up to this point, the idea of immigration and housing being so intricately connected was difficult for people to wrap their heads around. But this is probably the policy issue that's most impacting housing for young Americans in particular and reviving the American dream. There's been a lot of suggestions thrown out there about how to address that overlap and making sure that we're not having foreign nationals and illegal aliens taking over our affordable housing, purchasing all of the single family homes, and I know mass deportation have been a huge overlap with all of that as well. What is the admin doing specifically to address that issue and to make sure that American housing is going to Americans?
- [07:25]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Well, that's a great question. So if you look at when you have tens of millions of people coming across our border, illegal aliens come across our border unchecked, unvetted, it strains our housing supply, it strains housing affordability in our country. For instance, in New York and California, 100% of the rental demand increase is because of illegal immigration. And if you look at the young people or people general in our country that want to buy a house, when you have to deal with illegal immigration on such a vast magnitude. During the Biden administration, you know, the immigration policies were very weak. And so when all of these millions of people are coming across unchecked, not only does it strain our housing supply, but it's taking houses from American people. And so at hud, I alluded to, we signed a memorandum, a data sharing agreement with DHS to make sure that anybody living in HUD funded housing is American. We ended FHA mortgages for all illegal aliens.
- [08:24]
Isabel Brown
Huge.
- [08:25]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
And so FHA mortgages go to the American people, you know. And so again, it's part of stewardship, it's part of accountability, it's part of transparency. We're tearing down burdensome regulations like affirmatively furthering fair housing, which during the Biden administration made HUD a national zoning board, meaning that I can tell any city in America from Washington as a bureaucrat that you have to zone your community like this. Well, AFFH built not one home. What it did is crippled building in our localities. And so we tore that rule down to restore local control. And so we're hoping that with that and other measures that have been taken, that housing will begin to come online.
- [09:04]
Isabel Brown
Let's talk about the Biden admin a little bit, because I know so many of you as cabinet secretaries, came into your positions and were just utterly shocked at some of the layers of bureaucracy that you confronted. The fraud that's been going on in so many different departments across our executive branch. How did you uncover some of that at HUD and what, what steps are you taking to make sure that's not happening in the future?
- [09:24]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Well, at hud, you know, I used to play in the NFL. And we had to say, we watch film because the film doesn't lie. It tells the story. And the film that we watched over the last four years, the Biden administration was real bad. And so we had to run new plays. And a big part of that was taking inventory of every program at HUD to make sure that that program is actually helping us to return to the mission and carry out the mission that we're called to, and if it's not helping us get rid of it. And so in the first couple months we were there, we uncovered 1 billion in misplaced funds. That's $2 billion of misplaced funds that we deobligated and returned back to the treasury for the American people. We took down $4 million in DEI contracts alone, like contracts for mindfulness, which have nothing to do with housing, homelessness, or disaster at hud. And so we. DEI at HUD is dead. You know, and so those and other discoveries that we made to the tunes of hundreds of millions of dollars, we're restoring and recapturing so that we can use these funds for the American people.
- [10:27]
Isabel Brown
I get a lot of questions about people experiencing homelessness across our country. I grew up outside of Denver, and in Denver, we've just seen the homeless population explode throughout my lifetime. It's become such a huge problem, and it's really heartbreaking watching people struggle so much, especially when so much of our affordable housing is being given away to illegal aliens over the past several years. I know HUD has a huge initiative associated with all of that, and you folks pay very close attention to all of it, but it doesn't get a lot of media coverage. So can you tell us a little bit bit about that behind the scenes?
- [10:55]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Well, absolutely. When you look at the waste and the fraud and the abuse during the Biden administration at HUD alone, just in the state of Minnesota, about $84 million that we found in improper payments, some of those being dead people, you know. And so when you look at homelessness, you look at housing affordability, and you look at the waste and the fraud and abuse that was going on during the Biden administration. Those are the things that we've been cleaning up. But rest assured that not only are we cleaning up, but we're taking it back, we're clawing it back to make that we're doing the right thing for the American people. Homelessness in America has risen 33% over the last five years with record funding.
- [11:34]
Isabel Brown
Wow.
- [11:34]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
So there's something wrong with this equation when you have record funding Homelessness should go down and not go up. And so we're attacking this strategy to make sure that we're serving our homeless neighbors, not just housing them, the housing first model does not work, but to house them, to treat them, to get them transformed and back to a life of independence. And so at HUD are very focused on that, on helping our homeless neighbors, elderly, disabled veterans, to make sure that we put the axe head to the root and attack the problem of it, mental illness, substance use disorder, drug abuse, and get people healed and transformed and back to independence.
- [12:14]
Isabel Brown
What's your experience been as the cabinet secretary level working with state governments on this issue? Have you found any sort of resistance from certain governors or state leadership?
- [12:24]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Indeed I have. You know, and it's sad and it's a shame because we have to ask ourselves, are we really, is the goal really to help people that are homeless? Is the goal really to help our sisters and brothers and women and children that are homeless to get transformed and healed and back to self sufficiency? Because if that's the goal, then there should be one sound and one voice. Now there's going to be some tweaks you have to make on how we do it. But from a philosophical standpoint, yes, there's been resistance, but I'm here for it, you know, to overcome that and to make sure that we treat people properly.
- [12:58]
Isabel Brown
Absolutely. Switching gears a little bit, maybe one of the biggest questions I get right now is about young people's home affordability and how we can revive the American dream, a huge component of which is purchasing your own home and making sure you have a stake and a legacy for your children for Generation Z. There's been a lot of ideas thrown out by this administration, some really well received, some not so well received, about how we can clear that pathway for my generation to have our own American dream come to fruition. But can you share with us a little bit about what specific steps the admin is taking to help clear that pathway and make sure Gen Z can purchase their own home for sure?
- [13:30]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Well, it is of utmost priority, I will tell you that and encourage your listeners and viewers, in particular our young generation, that it is of utmost priority for the President and for many leaders in our administration. And you've seen that the President take some bold steps already as it pertains to home affordability. And we'll continue to do so. We'll continue to tear down regulations and encourage localities to tear down regulation. And from a teaching standpoint, the local government, the regulations that localities have can either help or hinder development and construction. What we've seen through the Biden administration is that the regulatory environment has been so burdensome that it's crippled development. And so we're going after the regulatory environment to tear it down, to increase the supply and to decrease the cost and so be encouraged that those actions are taking place. The mortgage, mortgage rates, as you've seen, are now ticking down lower and lower interest rates still need to come down. The ability to get capital, which has been really difficult over the past several years, is now hopefully going to continue to ease to get capital. FHA at HUD is a tremendous program. It is the program for first time home buyers. FHA and Jennie Mae, again, I said we helped over 1 million people become homeowners. And so I would encourage everybody to look at fha.
- [14:57]
Isabel Brown
What's really frustrating, I think from a financial literacy perspective as a generation, is that nobody taught us how to do this. There was no course in high school of how to purchase your first home. We never talked about it in our college years. And then I think so many young people get to the end of their 20s, they're newly married, they have new babies like my family. And then we say, okay, now what? How do I even begin this process? And there seems to be a lack of financial literacy around interest rates in particular, that you folks don't have control over that. So can you explain that a little bit to our audience, what steps need to be taken in that regard and what you guys are advocating for, for sure?
- [15:27]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Well, I would say like an FHA at hud, we have housing counselors that help people walk through that process, the same process you just described. And so if you apply for an FHA loan or you receive an FHA loan, there's housing counselors, people to walk you through that. But I would say as a father, you know, and as a 53 year old American business person and parent and lover of young people, I would say save your money. You know, save put away, have a specific account. You say, this is for my house to come. You may not see your house yet, but that's okay. Start putting the money away. Be responsible, be diligent, get what you need, not just what you want. Right? And so you're going to look up years from now, a few years, you'll have money ready in the way to make a down payment. And so I would say those two pieces of advice, well, along with all.
- [16:18]
Isabel Brown
Of the steps that are being taken, I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of our most Popular suggestions from our audience to you and to the admin. As we seek to make home affordability more possible for young people, our audience is desperate to potentially see banning foreign nationals as well as corporations from owning homes, at least for a few years. I know there are great steps being taken right now to make sure that the Blackstones of the world aren't purchasing all of the single family homes, which is an answered prayer. Truly, we're very grateful for that. But a lot of young people keep tossing out this idea of banning foreign nationals from owning homes, at least for their first few years after coming to the United States. They can rent and then potentially can later on. In addition to banning these corporations and potential ideas like this one, what steps are we taking on the supply side of things to make sure that single family homes are available for young people?
- [17:03]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Excellent. Well, and that's a great question. So we talk about demand. So far, supply is the building of them tearing the regulations down. Help with the supply opportunity zones, which was my first job in the first Trump administration. Opportunity zones give us a great vehicle by which to build new single family housing, multifamily housing, manufactured housing. And so opportunity zones are coming again.
- [17:30]
Isabel Brown
Good.
- [17:31]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
They've been made permanent because of the one big beautiful bill. And so that'll give us a tremendous asset, if you will, and a vehicle to build more affordable housing for our country. So great things to come. Again, this is a priority and so we're going to make it happen.
- [17:45]
Isabel Brown
Amazing. In our last couple minutes with you, Secretary Turner, we had Secretary Rawlins on a few days ago, and it was just fascinating to hear about the dynamic of all of the Cabinet secretaries together. That faith life is hugely important to this presidential administration. And as a Christian yourself, knowing how important your faith is to you, I would love to ask you a little bit about that dynamic that we never see in the mainstream media, for sure.
- [18:07]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Well, it is. It's important to the President. It's important to our Cabinet. You know, we start our meetings off praying together. We have a Cabinet Bible study that we attend. Many of us, we're all very close. You know, we pray together, we encourage each other. You know, these jobs are not easy in the sense of, you know, there's a lot of demand, there's a lot of hardship that goes on. But, you know, by God's grace, we all have such a great attitude. You know, we love the Lord, we love Jesus, we love each other. The President gives us free reign, you know, to be a faithful Cabinet, you know, and to prioritize prayer to prioritize our relationship with the Lord. And so it has really been life changing.
- [18:48]
Isabel Brown
That's incredibly powerful to hear and certainly never something you see covered to understand who you guys really are as real people. If you could share one message with the about this cabinet and what you plan to accomplish in this next year, what would it be?
- [19:02]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
The first thing I would say is this cabinet is made up of people that actually care. They care about America, they care about American people, and they care about American families. They prioritize the faith. They prioritize country over self. They work tirelessly, hours upon hours with a smile on their face. And so I would say, like this first year, I believe that this second year will be even greater.
- [19:33]
Isabel Brown
I can't wait to see all of it unfold. Secretary Turner, thank you for your service to our generation, our country. And we can't wait to see what happens in year two of the Trump administration.
- [19:41]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Thank you, Isabel.
- [19:43]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
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- [20:15]
Isabel Brown
Amazing. So important. And I hope and pray that I will finally be able to buy my first house this year because let me tell you, with a baby, babies come with a lot of stuff. And I need a garage for storage purposes more than anything. Parents. You get it. Speaking of parents, I'm so, so grateful for Secretary Kennedy's service to our country over at Health and Human Services, being willing to give a voice to young families who desperately are trying to help our country be healthier for our children. HHS has done such unbelievable work over the last year, updating the dietary guidelines, fighting for better infant formula, a new childhood vaccine scene schedule, and so much more. And I'm so excited to have you guys sit down with us and Secretary Kennedy to uncover everything that we can expect for the next 365 days. Secretary Kennedy, thank you so much for taking some time out of your very busy schedule. And the kickoff to our second year of the Trump administration here in D.C. to join us on the Isabel Brown Show. As you may remember, I was with you at the airport a few weeks ago with Secretary Duffy and my daughter. And we have a whole host of Maha moms and new parents who listen to the show every single day who are so grateful for your service to our country.
- [21:20]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
Oh, well, thank you, Isabel. Thank you for mobilizing the Baja moms.
- [21:26]
Isabel Brown
Absolutely. We do what we can every day. Today we are kicking off year two of the Trump administration and you maybe more than any other cabinet secretary, have had a very busy year serving the American people. We have a new food pyramid that literally flipped upside down, New vaccine schedule for children and so, so, so much more. Can you give us an overview as to some of the biggest wins of your first year and what we can expect in the second one?
- [21:48]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
Well, the dietary Guidelines are a big win for the White House and for the American people. That dietary guidelines for the last 50 years have channeled Americans toward refined carbohydrates, towards sugars and salts, ultra processed food. At one point, Froot Loops was at the top of the food paramedic. It was the pyramid itself. And the guidelines were driven by, not by public health interest, but by politicized science that served the mercantile interest, the companies that were making processed foods. And we have now flipped that and we've told Americans, don't eat ultra processed food, don't eat refined carbohydrates, don't eat sugar, reduce your salt intake and focus on real food, on meats, on protein, on dairy, on eggs, on high fiber grains and on vegetables and fruits. And this is going to change the food culture in our country. USDA alone spends about $405 million a day subsidizing food to Head start to the WIC program, to the tribal programs as well as what people eat, dictates what people eat in their school lunch programs, in prisons, in military, in the va. And all of that's going to change because of the dietary guidelines. We hope it also drives markets around the country so that there'll be more and more good food available for Americans. For the SNAP program, for example, one of the things we're doing with food stamps is we're telling all of the outlets that accept food stamps that they have to double the amount of whole of real food that they have in their stores. Oh, I think it's really going to drive markets in this country and change.
- [24:00]
Isabel Brown
The food culture that's so huge. And especially digging into all of this. As a first time mom myself, I grew up in Colorado Organic food and real whole foods was a very normal part of our culture. But as I've moved around the country and now seen an entire generation go through this, it's truly shocking. Some of the things that are in our foods when it comes to food, dyes, toxic chemicals, and yet we call it all edible. But you go to the store and as you mentioned, it's not even considered real food at this point. We have to have the admin tell people to eat real food. That's been such an interesting component of. Of your tenure as our HHS secretary, making sure that we're paying attention to some of those compounds in our food that have been recognized as safe up to this point. What are you doing about that in this second year of the admin?
- [24:43]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
Well, we're gonna continue to drive the dietary guidelines into our schools everywhere. And as you point out, when I was a kid, there was no such thing as organic food. It was just called food food. And now the whole center aisles of the grocery stores are filled with stuff that you should not be eating. I tell people if it comes in a package and it looks like it belongs in a package, you should not be eating it. But it really has the impact. Food is medicine, and it's a lot more efficient at curing disease and averting disease than a lot of pharmaceuticals. We can Cure Most type 2 of diabetes simply by changing people's diet. People who can lose their diagnosis just by changing their diets and switching the diets and meats and proteins and getting away from the sugars, particularly bottled sweetened drinks, and a lot of other of our chronic illness. Virtually all of our chronic illnesses are driven by our dietary driven. We now spend $0.40 out of every tax dollar in our country on chronic disease. That is diet driven.
- [26:00]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Wow.
- [26:01]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
If we just reduce the levels of diabetes and Alzheimer's to the level that they and obesity to the level that they have in Japan, which is good food, we would save about $600 billion a year. That's more than half a trillion dollars a year.
- [26:19]
Isabel Brown
That's incredible. And yet rarely gets attention in the mainstream media. If anything, most of what you say is considered quite controversial by the mainstream media to tell people to eat real food and take care of themselves. Switching gears a little bit on the dietary guidelines front, I know a huge component of what you're working on this year has to do with infant formula, which is so huge. We're starting to see the Maha crowd pay a lot of attention to this. And the state of Florida is doing really great work in the last few days investigating what's going on with infant formula in our country. Can you give us a little bit of light into Operation Stork speed and what we can expect?
- [26:50]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
Well, Operation storkspeed has two major initiatives. One is we're doing for the first time comprehensive testing of contaminants in baby formula of particularly heavy metals like cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury and then also PFAS and other contaminants which should not be in our baby formula. Unfortunately it is and we're going to be ridiculous releasing the details and the findings of those studies in I think around late April or early May. So sometimes that's great. And then the other thing that we're doing is we're re examining the list of nutrients that are required for baby formula. Right now there's 30 nutrients required. That list is 30 years old. That science archaic, it's expired. We now know a lot more about the micronutrients that are required for brain growth and good physical growth and the fortification of the immune system. And a lot of those nutrients are not in baby formula. So we're doing that comprehensive reexamination of what should be in that nutrient list and then we'll change the regulations.
- [28:13]
Isabel Brown
So important. And my daughter does not drink formula. She's breastfeeding, which is truly something I'm very, very grateful for in my journey as a new mom. A few weeks ago when we were at the airport, you talked about the importance of breastfeeding babies and how important that is from a nutrition standpoint and the media didn't like that very much. Tell us a little bit more about your perspective on breastfeeding and why it's so important for us to encourage the next generation to do that.
- [28:35]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
You know, nobody is better at designing baby formula than God and evolution and you know, the nutrients in breast milk are just superior to anything that you can buy on the counter. And there are studies after study after study that supports that. I don't know why that's controversial with.
- [28:59]
Isabel Brown
The media, it's controversial with everyone these days.
- [29:01]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
But babies are not getting good nutrition now in our country. And the best guarantee of that is breast milk. But we want to make sure that that mothers who cannot give their babies breast milk for one reason or another, that they have the very, very high quality baby formula that they know does not have contaminants in it.
- [29:20]
Isabel Brown
So, so grateful for that for sure. In our last few minutes together, I'm curious to pick your brain about what you experienced coming into your position as our secretary of Health and Human Services. We had Secretary Rollins on a few days ago on the show and she said it was just shocking becoming a cabinet secretary to uncover the many layers of waste, of fraud, of abuse that she was experiencing and what she's doing to make sure that's not contaminating USDA moving forward. My educational background is in the sciences. I have a master's degree from Georgetown in health policy essentially. And it was genuinely shocking to me throughout my educational journey to discover this rotating revolving door between a lot of our health regulatory agencies and some of the big food and big pharma companies. I know you've spoken a lot about that over the past year or so. But what steps is the admin taking to make sure that we know we can trust the health regulations coming out of our government and can continue following your lead on that?
- [30:10]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
That I mean there's 100 things that I felt the same way that Brooks did when I came in here, just shocked about the incompetence, the kind of bureaucratic self protection that was. People were making decisions based upon how it served the bureaucracy rather than it served public health. And we've tried to change that culture and I think we very much succeeded at most of our agencies. We had agencies, for example, we couldn't even get data. We could not get good health data. The sub agencies like cdc, FDA and nih, NCMS were hoarding that data and then selling it to the other agencies.
- [30:55]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
Wow.
- [30:56]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
It was all on different systems and all on different computers and a lot of it was unusable. And so we're consolidating now all that data. We've broken down the silos, we're depersonalizing it, we're making it so that scientists will have access to it and that we can get real science. And then we're making sure at NIH that all of our studies are replicated so people don't have an incentive to cheat. And there's a lot of cheating that goes on in science and a lot of politicization, a lot of outcome oriented studies where scientists are rewarded for. Finding a hypothesis that they're looking for rather than the hypothesis that is true. And we're trying to change that culture and I think we're succeeding in doing that.
- [31:49]
Isabel Brown
I think you absolutely are. And this scientist is grateful for a return to the real scientific method which seems to have been forgotten about the last several years in American culture in particular. Last question for you is a fun one. You are behind the President and Vice President the most followed cabinet Secretary on social media. And that certainly is our audience with Generation Z. Do you have a message to the next generation about what this administration is going to do to fight on their behalf in year two of Trump?
- [32:15]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
I mean, my message to people is, you know, is not what this administration should do for you. We are going to continue to fight for you. We're fighting for not to put ourselves in a position to tell you what to do. That was the old way of doing things at hhs. Right now, our philosophy is we're going to provide the best information to the American public. But people need to do their own research, and people need to. People need to be the CEOs of their own health and your children's health. You cannot. You know, what we know after Covid is that governments are corruptible, that people in authority lie. There's all kinds of incentives that lead them to tell noble lies for your own good, which turn out not to be for your good. And so we can't escape the civic responsibility of a democracy, which is that we have to do our own research to protect our family, to protect our own health. The same way that you research an automobile before you buy it, or a baby carriage or a car seat, you look on Yelp, you look on Consumer Reports, you do your own research, you make up your own mind about what's good for you and your family.
- [33:39]
Isabel Brown
So, so important and definitely something we'll continue to advocate for here on the show as well. Mr. Secretary, thank you again for your time and for your service to our country and for giving a voice to young families everywhere who are so excited to revive our health again as a country.
- [33:51]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
Thank you, Isabel.
- [33:53]
Isabel Brown
And last but not least, do you think this granola girly is going to come all the way to the White House and not talk to the man responsible for. For our National Park Service? I don't think so. I'm so excited to finally be meeting Secretary Doug Burgam today, who heads up our Department of Interior. You guys might not know what the Department of Interior is totally responsible for, which we'll get into a little bit. It is a lot more than the National Park Service. Energy independence, BLM land, making sure we're supporting our ranchers, and so much more. I'm so excited for you guys to hear all about their plans for America 250 and how we can give homage to. To the people who started conservation in the first place in our country. Hint it was conservatives in particular getting to talk to him about the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in his home state of North Dakota, which we are so excited to go check out later this year. Secretary Burgum, thank you so much for joining us here at the White House on the first anniversary of the Trump administration. It has been so exciting watching you lead our Department of Interior and just giving a voice to those of us out west here in crazy Washington, D.C.
- [34:55]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Well, first of all, I want to say thank you for letting me join your show. I've been really looking forward to this. And you and all of your listeners are so important to America and have been so supportive of this administration. You've made a real difference. So it's been, it's great to be here, and it's great to talk to someone who's from Colorado, from Idaho. You got your roots out west, and there's a lot going on in this country related to public lands that are important for our future.
- [35:22]
Isabel Brown
That's so important. And let's just jump right in there because I think something that's really surprised me as a Westerner living in and out of D.C. over the last several years, especially being here now, is the lack of understanding that conservation is a conservative value. We seem to have forgotten that Teddy Roosevelt created the National Park Service. Abraham Lincoln set aside the first public land in our country with the Yosemite Grant Act. The EPA was created by Richard Nixon. And so we've lost that connection, I think, to our history and our heritage as Americans. But Gen Z seems to be bringing conservation back as a gener and less of a partisan one. What is this administration doing to fight for public lands? And can you give us a window into how Interior plays that role?
- [36:01]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Well, I'm. Well, multiple questions there. I'd love to answer them all. But I'm so happy that you raised Theodore Roosevelt because at the core, I mean, the modern conservation ethic came from Theodore Roosevelt. And Theodore Roosevelt came to it through personal experience. I mean, we all know what it's like to have great loss, but he lost his mother and his wife on the same day in the same house on Valentine's Day in 1884. And he was been kind of a sickly New York kid, got himself even completely grief stricken. You know, today we'd probably say depression. I mean, he's lost everything. I mean, he would journal and on that day, he just put a giant X in his journal and it says, the light in my life has gone out. And, and that journal exists at the National Archive. I got to see it with. I got to see it with Theodore Roosevelt. V was with me when he, when they pulled it Out. And that's a. So it's exciting. So that artifact is. And it's going to be part of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which is opening this summer. But part of this celebration at the library is about two things. It's about conservation, it's about leadership, and it's about citizenship. All the things that your listeners care about. But true, when he went west, he observed that the bison were disappearing. He observed that we had to take care of our land and our wildlife to do that. And they say then what is now the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It's the only one of the flagship 63 national parks that is named after a person instead of a place. And then that place, of course, inside the Theodore Roosevelt national park is the Elkhorn Ranch, which is considered the birthplace of. Of conservation. So if any of your listeners are thinking about a pilgrimage.
- [37:50]
Isabel Brown
Good word. I like that.
- [37:51]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Yeah. To go to the theater. Roosevelt national park and understand where conservation began. But Teddy Roosevelt said conservation and the preservation of these public lands was for the benefit and the use of the American people. He was studying. He looked at England. England became a super powerhouse because they had had their federal lands. We would call them federal, they would call them, you know, of the land, you know, of the king, or however they described it. But they had enormous coal resources and they became an energy powerhouse because of their federal lands. And Theodore Roosevelt then started making sure that we were putting away. So that's why today you asked about Interior, where we manage 500 million acres of surface, 700 million acres of subsurface, and 3.2 billion acres of offshore. It's the largest balance sheet in the world. Is the Department of Interior larger than any private, private or public company. And it spans all the way from Guam in, you know, in American Samoa in the western Pacific, all the way to the U. S. Virgin Islands, the territories. And Alaska, of course, was a territory that was part of Interior at one time before it became a. Became a state. But the, the incredible abundance that, that our nation has, the assets that we have here far outstrip whatever debt. So people are saying, oh, you know, be worried about the U.S. debt. Yeah, we need to pay attention to it. But it's about the asset side too. And our assets are multiple fold higher than our debt is. But under the Biden administration, those assets weren't being used. We weren't cutting a tree. We weren't grazing a cow on public land. We weren't developing oil and gas resources. We weren't going after critical minerals and mining and present trouble in that Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Ethic Way has just said, hey, these are our assets and we should develop them sustainably for the future. But we should do that in a way that benefits the American people and the next generations will benefit. As we get back to the true Theodore Roosevelt conservation ethic, I'm so glad.
- [39:55]
Isabel Brown
You brought up energy, because I think one of the primary criticisms on the conservation front that we often hear from the climate alarm and the green nonprofits, et cetera, the Greta Thunbergs of the world, if you will, is that we should never touch any of our assets or our resources. And in reality, that's just not really practical for a country to operate efficiently. There is a balance that absolutely needs to exist between conserving our public lands and making sure they're set aside for future generations, but also asserting our energy independence and making sure we function as a country paying off our debt. What balance have you found to be difficult striking there, coming into your role as Secretary of Interior? And what do you wish the world knew about it when they criticize it so much?
- [40:32]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Well, what I wish the climate extremists would understand or say is that the tie between energy and human flourishing is directly connected. I mean, there's somewhere between 800 million and a billion people that get rigged up today somewhere in the world that don't have electricity. We have people that are still burning wood to cook their dinner tonight. And, you know, women traveling for miles to collect firewood to come back to be able to heat their homes or that. I mean, we have people today living the way that we might have thought, you know, that that's ancient history because we're taking it so for granted. But if you try to figure out a way, we need. So we need energy abundance. And energy dominance is about energy abundance. And there's been like a big lie that's been pushed on people through the climate extremists, which is, we need an energy transition. But energy transition, as in the policies of some of our states, like California and New York under the Biden and Obama administration, energy transition was energy subtraction. We're going to have less energy, which they have less energy. That means higher prices, and then we don't. And it also means that we lose the AI arms race to China. And that and part of human flourishing and productivity is going to be to have the power to be able to power our economy. Power the next economy that's coming. Power all the President Trump records amounts of capital coming back to the United States. And if you build a warehouse or a Factory, the future, it's going to require more power than one that it does today. So the energy dominance, energy abundance agenda of President Trump actually then ties back into this conservation because it forces the innovation of how are we smart about using our resources, how did we develop that? And that's been really, it's been really fun to see us turn around the direction of this country in terms of our energy policy. And fantastic. President Trump using energy diplomacy to bring peace all over the world.
- [42:28]
Isabel Brown
So important. And I love seeing that come out of this admin. We are starting 2026 right now, which is a really big year in American history. It's our 250th birthday. What is Interior and in particular the National Park Service doing to celebrate such a monumentous occasion?
- [42:42]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Well, we, we have so many celebrations and people probably think of the National Park Service, they think of Grand Canyon or Yellowstone or Yosemite or Glacier. I mean, all the big parks out west, but we also have every revolutionary and Civil War battlefield virtually is also part of a national historic sites are managed by the Park Service. And of course we have the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Recreation Area, and then here in Washington D.C. the National Mall, and all of these icons of democracy, all of our monuments all managed by the Park Service Service. So this is a year for us like no other in terms of getting ready for a non stop set of events and whether it's from, you know, Lexington and Concord to Independence hall in Philadelphia to of course, the Statue of Liberty and the big celebrations here in D.C. on July 4, but also, you know, major, major battles. I mean, going back to the Revolution war that created our country. But then as we move further west, part of celebrating 250 isn't just the Revolutionary War in the beginnings, it's also celebrating that westward expansion. Thomas Jefferson, $15 million buys the Louisiana purchase. Seward, a secretary of state, $7.5 million bought Alaska from Russia at a time when there was only 33,000 people living there. And then now this thing is a giant powerhouse for us of minerals and energy that's gonna help us bring peace in the Pacific. So we have a chance to celebrate from coast to coast across all of our states, across all of our territories, the amazing things to hear. But Theodore Roosevelt is a key part of that. And the presidential library, there's never been a presidential library for Theodore Roosevelt. And it's opening over the fourth of July week in Medora, North Dakota. And this is going to be the first fully digital AI presidential library.
- [44:35]
Isabel Brown
Ooh, that's Exciting.
- [44:37]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Yeah. So you build that question. They always ask, like, who would you like to have dinner with? Or who'd you like to have a conversation with? I don't. I give your listeners a sneak preview which is, but there's. Under construction. There's a, was a. One of the major donors of the library was, was Microsoft. So there is a. All of the volumes. He wrote more books than any other president before President Trump. He had more spoken words. I mean he, the bully pulpit was created. That was the name for him of how he dealt with the press and long press conferences and, you know, great speeches. We have his speeches, we know how his voice sounded, we know what he's written in all those books. He wrote more letters than Washington and Jefferson combined. All of those together have all been put into a large language model. So come to the library and then ask, have a chat with a hologram of Theodore Roosevelt answering your question in his words.
- [45:32]
Isabel Brown
You've sold me, Mr. Secretary. I literally have a photo or an art piece that we did of Theodore Roosevelt hanging behind me in my show every single day in our home studio. He is one of my all time American heroes and I cannot wait to engage in this very exciting new technology again.
- [45:46]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
I think the key thing is where it's located. When you step into the library, you will look out onto the same landscape of the preserve national park. It is literally on the edge of the national park.
- [45:58]
Isabel Brown
Park.
- [45:58]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
You'll see the same thing that Teddy Roosevelt saw when he stepped off the train in 1884.
- [46:03]
Isabel Brown
Oh, that's so powerful.
- [46:05]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
When you make it through the whole journey of leadership, citizenship or, or conservation and you get to the end, there's going to be a thing of in the arena and it's going to have.
- [46:15]
Isabel Brown
Folks from the best speech ever, from.
- [46:18]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Brene Brown to LeBron James to Tom Brady. I mean, people that, you know, like Ron James would write in the arena on his basketball shoes before he'd go into a playoff. I mean, there's hundreds of current cultural figures that have embraced tr but when you get into that room, it's going to challenge you. The visitor, what are you doing to get in the arena on citizenship, conservation or leadership?
- [46:43]
Isabel Brown
I cannot wait to experience this. I'll have to join you out in North Dakota for sure.
- [46:47]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
We look forward to that.
- [46:48]
Isabel Brown
Last question for you is generally about what this administration is doing to reinvest in our heritage and our inheritance of our public lands through interior. This certainly is something our generation is very passionate about. And at the end of the last Trump administration, something that got virtually no media coverage was the Great American Outdoors act championed by this administration that was so passionate about reviving our Park Service, encouraging people to get out there and explore our beautiful places all over the country. Is there anything you can share with us about the next three years of this admin similar to the Great American Outdoors act of that reinvestment so that we can share this with our children? Children?
- [47:21]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Well, yes. Well, I think one of, one of the things that we're doing in interiors is we're trying to make sure that we, when you're in the property management business and you're in the visitation business, we've got to upgrade the quality of the customer or the citizen experience. So, you know, big focus in this year is how do we make sure that all, that we take care of all the little things and that there's a lot of deferred maintenance the parks. I mean, when you're managing over 450 units between battlefields and parks, you know, you can end up with, you know, things like bathrooms and potholes that have to be improved. So under President Trump and with his support, you know, driving more dollars towards deferred maintenance, driving more dollars towards improving those experiences, improving the, the interaction through the website and how do you reserve a campsite? All the things we can do to, to have, you know, the generation of citizens that we have today that are, that are tech fluent and that are, you know, understand, have certain expectations, we've got to be able to deliver that too. We can't have the best places in the world. And then one of the things that we also did was we just, we announced that we're dramatically raising prices on international visitors. And some people said, why would you do that? Well, if you go to, if you fly to the jewels of the world like Rwanda to see the gorillas, it's 800 bucks a day to get in that park and you're staying in a four or five star hotel. There's not, forget the campground. You're going to spend 1000 bucks a night on a hotel room. And that's all tourism and GDP for that. If you want to go to the Galapagos Islands, you got it. But then we would have people traveling on bus tours from around the world, you know, a group of Japanese coming into Yellowstone park for a week. And we were charging them less than we were charging a citizen here in our own country. So we, we've got to make sure we get a balance because that alone is going to raise hundreds of millions of dollars of additional gate revenue that those parks can then put back into improving the experience. And of course, the best people that support conservation in our country are hunters and anglers.
- [49:27]
Isabel Brown
Absolutely.
- [49:28]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
And so we, we have, under President Trump this last year, we have opened up, unless there's some specific ecological reason, if we've got, and I'm not trying to national parks because there's, that's a separate set of things with basically no hunting and some fishing, but our fish and wildlife refuges, our Bureau of Land Management land that we have, you know, all of the public lands that we manage, these hundreds of millions of acres, unless it's explicitly says not, we're opening them all to hunting and fishing, you know, getting people back on the land is a great thing. And in the process, if we can, when we've got, you know, our great ranchers are great, they're great conservationists. The people that do timber in this country were driven out of business, killing timber towns across our country. Now we're importing a bunch of timber from foreign countries. Now we spend more on fighting fires than we get in revenue from selling timber. We gotta get back in the timber business. When we've got timber companies out in those woods, that's good for forest health and health as well and creates, you know, more, more access for hikers and all that, as opposed to just letting them stand and letting them burn, which is what's been happening now. So we've got a whole philosophy that's driving us in a positive direction to ensure that future generations can have not only the financial benefits, but the great spiritual connection of being able to be in the outdoors in these amazing, amazing places that our country has.
- [50:53]
Isabel Brown
Secretary Kennedy, who we interviewed a few minutes ago, has articulated that really over the last few years, that you feel a sense of connection with the divine when you're in these beautiful places. And as we seek to revive our faith as one common country, one nation under God, again, I think it's going to be really important to get people back outside. So as our resident granola outdoorsy girly in the conservative movement, I'm very excited for everything you're doing and thank you so much for your service to our country.
- [51:17]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
Well, thank you, Isabel. Great to be with you.
- [51:19]
Isabel Brown
Absolutely huge thank you again to the White House comms team and the administration for giving us a front row seat into everything happening here at the Trump White House. So many exciting things to happen, including a very exciting event we can't wait to bring you guys to next week here in D.C. more to come on that don't forget to subscribe to the channel or make sure that you are giving us a five star rating on your favorite podcast platform. And you can catch all of our interviews with zero ads in the best format possible. When you become a subscriber to Daily Wire, download the Daily Wire app and become become a part of our family over there again. More exciting announcements to come on that front too. Cuz I know you guys have been asking what we've got cooking for 2026. Stay tuned. It's going to be great.
- [52:12]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
What was it like, Marlon, to be alone with God? Is that who you think I was alone with?
- [52:27]
Isabel Brown
Maradin?
- [52:27]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
I knew your father. I am yet convinced that he was not of this world.
- [52:34]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
All men know of the great Taliesin.
- [52:37]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
You are my father. That the gods should war for my soul.
- [52:42]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
Princess Ghost Varys, savior of our people.
- [52:47]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
I know what the Bull God offered you.
- [52:50]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
I was offered the same.
- [52:52]
Isabel Brown
And there is a new pirate work in the world.
- [52:55]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
I've seen it. A God who sacrifices what he loves for us.
- [53:00]
Isabel Brown
We are each given only one life. Singer.
- [53:03]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
No.
- [53:04]
Secretary Turner (HUD Secretary)
We're given. I learned of Yazu the Christ and.
- [53:10]
Isabel Brown
I have become his follower.
- [53:12]
Secretary Burgum (Department of Interior Secretary)
He's waiting on a miracle. And I think you can give him one.
- [53:16]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
Trust in Yezu. He is the only hope for men like us. Fate of Britain never rests in the hands of the Great Light.
- [53:23]
Isabel Brown
Great Light. Great darkness. Such things mattered to me then.
- [53:28]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
What matters to you now, Mistress of Light?
- [53:32]
Isabel Brown
You, nephew. The sword of a high king. How many lives must be lost before you accept the power you were born to wield? So clinging to the promises of a God who has abandoned you.
- [53:51]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
I cannot take up that sword again.
- [53:54]
Isabel Brown
You know what you must do.
- [53:58]
Secretary Kennedy (HHS Secretary)
Great Light, forgive me. Time has come to be reborn.