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- [00:01]
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Libsyn Ads Representative
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- [01:59]
Amy McGrath
Welcome to Truth in the Barrel. We've got a great show for you guys today. Trump is trying to nationalize elections. ProPublica has a new report on ICE. A detention facility in Texas and Cuba might be going the way of Venezuela. We are going to talk about all of this and more with my old partner in crime, Denver. Welcome back, my friend from overseas.
- [02:23]
Denver Riggleman
Thanks. It's great to be back. I wouldn't miss it for the world.
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Amy McGrath
Yeah. And you've been traveling quite a bit. Not just Greenland, but also Europe, right?
- [02:33]
Denver Riggleman
Oh yeah. I mean we started in Iceland, went to Greenland, where I was there four or five days where we were sort of protesting. I was actually going into people's houses around Greenland and we had an influencer there who hooked me up with that meeting with all kinds of folks. I got got good play with the Danish ambassador, did all that stuff and then went to Denmark, did the no words march with the veterans of NATO. A crazy time. I don't have the words, Amy. Wow. I was so emotional. And I was marching with an 80 year old Denmark veteran of NATO and he's carrying a flag and I'm like, let me help you. And he goes, no. So I did the whole march with him, but he looked at me and I know it's crazy, but he seemed really emotional. And I said, are you okay, sir? And he goes, I knew that my American brothers would still march with me.
- [03:29]
Amy McGrath
Yeah, well, you know, we're seeing that at the Olympics too. You know, people, Americans who are there with signs saying, you know, I'm sorry for what's going on, we will fix ourselves. I mean, and the reception that, you know, there seems to be a reception of the American public, as you know, we still, we still are with you, America, but your, your leadership is shit. Yeah. Well, let's get started. We have a lot to talk about. By all indications, the Trump administration is up for not so good showing here for the 2026 midterms nationwide. Right. And that I think is the reason why there is all this talk of nationalizing elections. So on a podcast, the president, you know, because that's how he, he talks now on podcasts, he said that the Republicans should take over voting in 15 states, so. 15 states. He didn't say what states they would be, but you know, Denver, safe bet it's probably going to be the swing states. Don't you think?
- [04:43]
Denver Riggleman
That's. I, I think, you know what, me and you are pretty smart. I think we could figure out some swing states. You know, it's scary. People have been asking me, they're like, well, what do you talk about? The end of federalism, like. Yeah, right. But it's also interesting what he didn't say, he didn't say the federal government was going to take over elections. He said the Republicans, which should be. Amy. Right. Isn't that a bit of a red flag? Yeah, you know, you know, to me it is. But, but, but, you know, I think as we're moving forward, what you're seeing with the Tulsi Gabbard at Fulton county, you're seeing the foreign election interference playbook happening just like it did in 2020 and 2021, especially with the executive orders like 13848 people can look it up. I am. You know, we don't talk about my book much on here, but I did sort of write about it in a prophetic way, using data that this is the same thing that they're going to future. And they are, and that's what scares me, is they're going to use foreign interference, conspiracy theories to invoke executive orders to seize voting machines or to disenfranchise voters in the specific swing districts and states.
- [05:49]
Amy McGrath
Let's talk about a few of these things. So. So Steve Bannon, who's like the President's henchman, has called for ICE that's like, you know, the President's new shock troop force federal agents to surround polling places on Election Day. Okay. And then there's that. Then the next day, he said that President Trump should or has to nationalize the election and not only put ice, but also the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and, And invoke the Insurrection act to take over voting. I mean, you can say, okay, that's really extreme, and it's just Steve Bannon, but, you know, they're doing things that are moving in that direction. And I want to just take a step back and remind everybody there is this thing, and I brought it with me. This is my pocket Constitution. I have many of them. I'm kind of a geek that way. In our Constitution, it says, and I'll bring it up here, Article 1, Section 4. Okay. Clause 1. The Times, places and manner of holding elections shall be prescribed in each state. Okay. By the states. The states control the times, manner and election. So, you know, if you're trying to change that, like, like the SAVE act, you. You're, you know, that's unconstitutional.
- [07:19]
Denver Riggleman
Yeah. I mean, there's. If you keep reading, I know what they're going to do, though. Right. Clarence Thomas was a big pusher of the states having complete immunity from any action against how they choose electors, which came up with the alternate electors conspiracy theories, or the alternate electors being chosen because of conspiracy theories. The flip to that, and what's crazy about this is that we don't know if the Supreme Court of its constituted would say, hey, the second part of that constitutional phrase says that unless there's really, really bad things happening, which. That is a hell of a paraphrase. They're really, really bad. Yeah. But it really is the end of federalism if we do that. And I think it's interesting to me that those who talk about states rights and who pushed all the way to where alternate electors should be allowed, which would have been A stolen election are now on the side of nationalism and, you know, nationalizing the electrics and the end of federal federalism. Wow. And I think. I think you're right. And by the way, did you get goosebumps a little bit, Amy, when you saw the Insurrection act being talked about in the 82nd and 101st being deploy. Does that seem a little familiar to you? And something that. Yeah. Oh, my God, Amy, that's exactly the.
- [08:36]
Amy McGrath
Tabletop exercises that we did in the summer of 2024. Exactly.
- [08:40]
Denver Riggleman
What we had predicted was that that's where we became friends. Right?
- [08:45]
Amy McGrath
What's happening right now, Denver, with the SAVE act is part of this effort. And I wanted to discuss this with you because I don't know how you feel about this particular act or, you know, they frame it under the frame of voter id. You know, everybody, all Americans, think we should have a voter id. And you know what? We could table that, because I, I actually am not opposed to voter IDs as long as the government pays for them. Because if you don't, then it's just a poll tax, right?
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Denver Riggleman
That's exactly what it is.
- [09:21]
Amy McGrath
But the SAVE act is bigger than that because it would, for example, really disenfranchise women who have changed their names, or maybe women who have changed their names and then got a divorce and changed their names back. People who have lost their birth certificates. How about the fact that this, this idea of no mail in voting? I mean, you and I were in the military. Like, you're disenfranchising millions of Americans who are deployed and their families and their spouses. How about truck drivers? How about airline pilots? People that can't go to the polls on election day between the hours of 8 and 6pm and so, you know, this is why somebody like Lisa Murkowski, Republican senator from, from Alaska, said, I'm not for this. Why think about Alaska? There's more moose. Is it moose or me? I don't know. There's more moose in Alaska than there are people.
- [10:21]
Denver Riggleman
I've heard leases in a while, right?
- [10:23]
Amy McGrath
There are more like. There's not that many people there. It's a huge territory. A lot of places in Alaska, you know, are like where you just visited in. In Greenland. You have to fly there. Oh, yeah. You're not getting people. You. You cut off mail in, in, in ballots. You're not gonna have an election there.
- [10:43]
Denver Riggleman
You think, what's, what's Alaska? 1.2 to 1.5 people per square mile. People can check me. I think I'm pretty Close. Maybe it's two.
- [10:50]
Amy McGrath
Well, it's exactly right. Why we have this in the, in the Constitution. The states control it.
- [10:56]
Denver Riggleman
States control it. They have to. You know, and that's the scary part about if you nationalize elections, can you imagine putting people like Sidney Pal in charge of our elections? And by the way, if you look at who Trump's putting in charge of all the election platforms or all the election organizations, all of them are actual election deniers. And I think that's what we have. Insanity in charge.
- [11:20]
Amy McGrath
And.
- [11:20]
Denver Riggleman
And again, the goosebumps that we get when we see that our tabletop exercise is coming true. I do think you will see deployment of specific types of law enforcement or ICE or CBP at certain polling places. I do think, and you know this, and I'm trying to warn everybody, I'm getting the same type of conspiratorial things coming now from the left. Right. They're going to take over and they're going to change the election using electronic means. No, the best way to steal an election is through process. It's through disenfranchising people. Right. It's very difficult to utilize computer methods or hacking or satellites, which is impossible to change votes. Doesn't happen. It's hard to happen. It's almost impossible. Never say impossible. Right, Amy. But what they're doing with process disenfranchisement, changing the rules, as you know, you said mail and voting. How about the law changing the post date on envelope so it makes it harder to do mail and voting? That's happen. So all this is happening. And I, and I find it hilarious that some people are like, well, you know, I still think we're going to have good 2026 elections. We, you, you can hope for the best. Great. I want you to hope for the best, but you got to plan for the worst. And at this point, I think we got to start planning for the worst because we're seeing the ride on the wall. Based on what you said, I'm just piggybacking off you. The polling looks really bad for the GOP in the midterms.
- [12:46]
Amy McGrath
Yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right. And I just want to talk really quickly about this notion of illegal immigrants voting. So the whole reason that, you know, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, all these people talk about putting ICE agents and the military around voting, you know, booths and places around America, is because they're saying we're going to stop illegal immigrants from voting. All right, think about this, Denver. If you are here illegally, why on earth would you want to go to a voting place, a place that the U.S. government for that day is sort of taking over. What's in it for you to. I mean, there's no one's. No one pays you to vote. You get absolutely nothing out of it. They have an enormous amount to lose. I. E, like arrest and deportation. I would think if you are here illegally, the last place on earth you would want to be on election day is anywhere near the polls.
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Denver Riggleman
But, you know, you and your common sense. I tell you, Amy, how dare you.
- [14:10]
Amy McGrath
Just, like, come on.
- [14:11]
Denver Riggleman
Dare you bring common sense to this discussion with the Republicans and what they're doing? You know, there's. God, there's a few things here. Okay, number one, devil's in the details on the SAVE Act. You did bring something up. It's not about us, you know, saving the vote for illegal aliens. Right. Or saving the vote from illegal aliens. It's about suppressing the vote. The devil's always in the details. And legislation, as you know, and people can go, oh, my God, if you're against the SAVE act, you're a traitor. I think that's interesting. So I think when you're looking at legislation, people need to read the details. You're exactly right. This is, again, not about stopping illegal aliens from voting. It's the downward sort of cascading effect of how hard to make it for people to vote. You're right. Number two, there's a couple of different conspiracy theories out there. There's two pillars. If you, you know, when you look, go back to 21, there were. There were also two pillars. There was the deep state pillar and the foreign interference pillar. And, you know, both of those were. Those were the two pillars. Now, the two conspiracy theories are still the foreign interference and all the consp Theories under that. The second is illegal immigration, illegal immigrants voting, which Steve Bannon is actually pumping into the actual atmosphere right now. All that stuff is happening. Right. The third thing. So we have the SAVE act, we have these two conspiratorial pillars which are starting to match a little bit like what 2021 looks like. But they've sort of switched the deep state illegal ballots over to illegal immigrants.
- [15:31]
Libsyn Ads Representative
Woo.
- [15:31]
Denver Riggleman
The scary. You know, it's almost like a legal immigrant panic. Almost like the satanic panic.
- [15:36]
Amy McGrath
Right.
- [15:36]
Denver Riggleman
It's incredible. The third thing, can you imagine them using both of those pillars to do exactly what you said, which is deploying CBP or ICE to polling lines, legal lawfare against polling stations or against election counting centers, Right. Where they try to slow roll the vote the other thing is just simply. My biggest fear really, is simply using a legal apparatus in a Supreme Court to really not only slow roll, but to throw out certain sections of the voting code or saying that they think that President Trump has an actual constitutional argument to actually nationalize elections. All this. All this conspiratorial thinking, the SAVE act, all that is going down that road. And again, it just. It just scares the hell out of me that we sort of called it in the tabletops back in 24, 100%.
- [16:30]
Amy McGrath
And I feel like the other thing is the messaging, you know, for everyday Americans is voter id. Who would be against that? You know, and it's not.
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Denver Riggleman
This is.
- [16:41]
Amy McGrath
This is much different than that. You know, in Kentucky, you already need to show a picture ID on election Day. You have to show a driver's license or a college id, something like that. That's from some form of government. But states do things differently. And, you know, when you're. When you're nationalizing this stuff, first it's unconstitutional. And it's also. He's clearly going after blue states and swing states and trying to suppress the vote. So that's why, you know, I would be against it. 100. Yeah. All right. Well, we've been talking a bit about this, the role this administration could use, ICE in the elections. But we're actually getting more clarity now on what they're doing at their detention facilities. So, according to NBC News, the United States is currently holding more than 70,000 immigrants in 222 facilities across the nation. So that's over 100 more facilities that they had just a year ago. Okay. And these detainees include children. And so there was a big ProPublica report here that said that there's, you know, 3,000, over 3,000 children in detention. And a lot of these children are in detention, which is basically prison, for over 20 days, which is considered really excessive, and against a federal court order saying that children couldn't be detained for that long. So, I mean, there's a lot going on here.
- [18:20]
Denver Riggleman
Me and you are. We try to do these shows. We try not to get hyperbolic. We're so down the line because of both where we came from, whether it's military, the way we're trained. You teach, Amy. Right. I'm a CEO of a company that deals in data. We try really hard to hold the line outside of hyperbole, outside of anything conspiratorial or facts based on. But it's hard not to think about 70,000 people being detained children for an extended length of time and ProPublica is doing God's work here. And not to think the right word isn't war crimes, but there's certainly something here that's so God. The word that popped in my mind is deleterious. I mean, who uses that stupid word? But it's so awful, right? It's so specifically awful. I don't know how we don't at some point have a reckoning against DHS and what they're doing. It's just really difficult for me to get my arms around somebody who came from the right. You know, I'm center. Right. I think that we should have a strong border. And I don't have to say this, I do. Right. And you know, especially in my counterterrorism background, everything that I've done. But how dare us have a low iq, poorly trained sort of thug force out there, just rounding people up. Most of them not criminals in any way except for how the right portrays. Well, they're all criminals. Well, come on. Right. A lot of people being here for decades working, paying taxes, we already know that immigrants just create so much positive momentum for our economy. So I, I try so hard not to say, you know what, we need real investigations. If the Democrats can ever take back the House and the Senate and the White House, there needs to be a full blown push into doing that. I don't know if they have the guts to do that. I don't know if they're going to half step again. But at some point I think there needs to be a sort of this upsurge of justice and looking at what's happening there and, and maybe taking some real action.
- [20:26]
Amy McGrath
There's a lot here. So first of all, there's human rights issue that's, you're taking infants and kids and you're imprisoning them. Yeah, for over 20 days against a court order. So that's a constitutional legal issue there. And you know, it's, it's over 1300 children, according to this report, according to the Marshall Project here is saying have been held in detention longer than 20 days. So 3,800 children have been detained. But you know, thousands of them have been detained for a long period of time. And that has real impacts on kids, right? Their mental health, their physical health. I don't know. I have been to one of these detention centers. I went back in 2018 when I was running for Congress, went down to the border. I went down there with Seth Moulton and a group of veterans who were running for Congress that year. We went to Texas and Toured the detention centers there, one or two of them. And, you know, the conditions weren't terrible. They weren't great. It was a prison. And the problem was that, you know, people were sort of held indefinitely there and, but there were no kids there at the time. And now, now we're talking about kids proper.
- [21:51]
Denver Riggleman
You know, I went there also and it was pretty crowded. I was down there in 2019 or 2020.
- [21:58]
Amy McGrath
Yeah.
- [22:00]
Denver Riggleman
And you know, the conditions aren't great. It was fairly clean. You're right. Right. It was like, you know, you're like, that's interesting. Not great, not awful. But I can't imagine that many people that they're squeezing into these spaces and what they're doing. But you said something about human rights. And I think that's the thing about this administration. I've never seen administration so anti child in my life. Whether it's taking away health care, whether it's imprisoning children in these camps, or whether it's protecting child rapists with the Epstein files. It seems like everything that this administration do is. It does. Is anti child. It's anti people that. Right. Are here just trying to do the best that they can, but it's also anti justice on anything to do with children across this entire administration. And that's what's really interesting and just you talking is when that thread sort of popped into my mind, you know, when you're taken away Medicaid or you're taking away the aca, you're taking away health care for children, you're imprisoning children and you're not protecting children from child rapists and pedophiles. That gets really concerning. And, and I'm not trying to make this too sober, but I think we can't overstate the seriousness of how lawless and, and really pathetic this administration is.
- [23:15]
Amy McGrath
The other aspect of this, Denver, is the fact that a lot of these prisons, they're private. So there's a, there's an incentive there to make money. And some of this stuff started actually during the Obama administration to hold the influx of families crossing the border. Some of the, some of these were created Joe Biden, you know, you know, during the first Trump administration, there was the family separation issues that were just heinous. And then Biden came into power and basically said, you know, holding families, America shouldn't be in the business of detaining children. So that policy was stopped. And of course, now Trump is resuming the detention of kids. I also worry, Denver, that this isn't going to break through the same Way the family separations thing broke through during Trump 1.0 because there's so much going on and people, people are just, you know, that were. It's. Sadly, it's not front page news.
- [24:21]
Libsyn Ads Representative
It's.
- [24:21]
Denver Riggleman
Well, you have a leveraged media, too, now. I mean, just think about cbs, right? And, you know, think about, you know, ABC paid off Trump. I mean, they're just terrified. We have a media that's scared. I mean, look what happened to Washington Post. It got gutted, right, Last week. I mean, just gutted. Or was that this week? Maybe I'm losing track of time with my travel, Amy. But you're right. I mean, the media is not really accountable to the American people right now. They're worried about their bottom line, their clicks, but they're also worried about Trump. And it's a shame it should break through. But you're right, it's not.
- [24:54]
Amy McGrath
And I hope you're right that there is accountability at some point. You know, I've called for the Secretary of Homeland Security to be impeached. I think she needs to be out of there, that, you know, ICE needs to be stopped. This is. This is crazy. And the other thing is, there's like a measles outbreak now in some of these detention centers. I mean, this is crazy, especially for these kids.
- [25:20]
Denver Riggleman
Stupidity is terminal. There's incompetence at every head of every agency in the United States government right now, bar none. They're all insane. From Tulsi to RFK Jr to Hegseth to Kristi Noem. Go down the line to Russ Vaught, right? Just keep Stephen Miller. I mean, Jesus, me. And you could go on and on, right, with the insanity, and it goes all the way to the top with Trump, who certainly, whether he's in dementia or not, something is wrong. He's. He's off, he's gone. And maybe it's that hate and vitriol and conspiratorial thinking and the crimes of his past have finally eaten his brain stem, which I hope so, right? Evil is like Pac man to his brain, and I hope it eats it all. I hope the guy's gone. And I think that's where we're at right now, is that we have such incompetent administration that everything adds up. Everything adds up. Stupidity is terminal. And sometimes it's terminal to other people who aren't stupid. And that's what we're seeing right now.
- [26:16]
Amy McGrath
Well, I also want to ask you about Cuba, because I have talked to a number of foreign policy people, many people who don't really love this administration, but are always trying to like, figure out, hey, maybe Trump does know what he's doing. Maybe, maybe Marco Rubio, look at Cuba. We're about, you know, the communist regime right now is about ready to collapse. Isn't that great? So I'll take a step back and just remind everybody what's going on at the moment. After deposing of Maduro in, in Venezuela, many people discussed Cuba would be the administration's next target. And Cuba depended on Maduro, who was once the leader of Venezuela that Trump got rid of for oil. Okay. And now the Cuban island is running out of fuel. It's at risk of losing airline service. It's, it's running out of aviation fuel. It's sort of being strangled right now. And a lot of people are saying Cuba's economy is in a free fall, its electric grid is failing, millions of its citizens have left. The Cuban government is sort of, you know, on the verge of collapsing. And Donald Trump is, is basically saying they, they need to make a deal with me or, you know, they're going to collapse. And I hear from people, well, that's not bad, is it? I want to get your take before I jump in.
- [27:57]
Denver Riggleman
There's so many things here. You know, we can talk about nationalism being part of the MAGA creed, the fact that he's starting wars when he said he wouldn't want to. We could talk about all that domestic politics stuff. That's real. But what people don't understand is a destabilization regime. Right. Like this. If you're talking about Venezuela, we kept the dictators in place, by the way, what are we going to do in Cuba? And it seems like that downstream effect was something that the administration didn't even take into consideration. They didn't. So now they're trying to backwards, rationalize it and take credit for however that's going to collapse. But what does that collapse mean? It's a ripple effect. Right. If you're talking about Venezuela, you're talking about Cuba, but you're also talking about how we're seen by our allies. But also what are you talking about with Russia and China and Cuba? So now we have this almost this mini conflagration where it's looking like downstream we're going to take anybody we want. We're not going to take into account any type of human suffering. Right, Right. We're just going to go ahead and carte blanche, take whatever we want to take. But it's also so ludicrous to think that they had somehow this big long term plan when Venezuela was just about profit taking for his donors. It's all that was, there's no, that's it. Right, that's, that's all it was. And, and people can argue with me, and I'm happy to have that argument with folks, but I think it's this destabilization, destabilization regime that we're looking at that, that we're, that who we are. And I got to tell you, you know, we are, we are pushing a lot of resources to a lot of different places because I know we haven't even talked about Iran yet, have we, Amy? So, Right. I think that's my issue, right, is that we're not taking into account how this whole, the destabilization that's going to happen, refugee issues, I mean, it could be absolutely awful. So there, there's my take.
- [29:40]
Amy McGrath
And I was asked about it last night at an event by a guy who genuinely wasn't sure. He's like, it seems like Trump's doing the right thing here, you know, and, and what came to mind to me when I responded to him was this is really risky because we, we don't have a great track record of failed states being good, good for the world. And so, and this one is right next to our borders. So, you know, we know terrorists come from failed states. When you have failed states, you have mass migration and mass humanitarian issues. We, we already have a problem at our borders with, you know, migration coming from people from failed states. I, I, I know that the Trump administration and Republicans, I guess in Congress seem to think that this is a good thing and we're now going to get a democratic Cuba and it's going to be peaceful and all this, that's, that's a, that's a big risk here. And the other thing about this is the, the, as you sort of alluded to, the current administration is reportedly trying to find elites within the Cuban government, okay. That could play a similar role in leading the country, like the acting Venezuelan leader right now. So we got rid of Maduro, we kidnapped him, but we didn't do regime change in Venezuela. Basically it's the same regime there, it's just a different person. And so what Trump is trying to do here is that same thing. It appears so. I, I just, I don't know. I, I feel like Trump and Rubio are trying to get, get an attaboy and this is very dangerous for Cuba to collapse.
- [31:48]
Denver Riggleman
Well, I mean, in Venezuela, I mean, I think the threat is make A deal with us or we will take you. That's it. It wasn't about democratic institutions or you know, bringing freedom to Venezuela. It was, you know, make a deal and I got a next dictator. You don't make a deal, I'll take you too. That's it. Cuba's the same way. We're not going to bring democratic institutions. It's how many deals we can make in Cuba for donors. It is a money making operation. That's what our foreign policy is. I think that Cuban people, you know, should be able to self determine. I think it's awesome. I think we should push for that. But we got to do it in the right way with the right motives and with the right president, the right administration and people that are adults in the room. Because right now we have bizarre sort of glue sniffing children that are making decisions for the United States.
- [32:35]
Amy McGrath
It's very chaotic. There is an incredible op ed and I never thought I would say this about John Bolton, but John Bolton wrote an op ed in the Atlantic and I don't know the title. I think it's something like the Chaos Foreign Policy or something like that. We'll get you the title. But he basically says that the Trump administer. There's no rhyme or reason for any of this stuff. Like for example, they had this regime change in Venezuela and it was apparently all about oil. And then he turns to the oil executives here in America and all of the oil executives are saying we're not going to invest in Venezuela. It's almost like the administration, Denver never even talked to the experts prior to engaging in this crazy regime change. And then if you remember, they sent the oil money that they had seized to, out to a Middle Eastern country to put it in a, in a bank there supposedly to give back to Venezuela. Well guess who they gave it back to? The leader of Venezuela who is in the same regime. Like it wasn't the opposition leader that, that won the election. They gave it to the, to the number two or number three under Maduro. Like what are we doing?
- [33:58]
Denver Riggleman
Wait, we don't know what we're doing. We don't know government, they just don't know what they're doing. They have no clue. When you, I've told people, when you, when you put half baked conspiracy theorists, fantasists, people who gallivant with sky fairies, you know, those kind of people in charge. This is what you get, you get in a tanking economy. Do you believe that? You know, we had a downward adjustment of a million jobs. Then it comes out today. Oh we created 130,000 job. Nobody believes your numbers, dude. I mean, nobody believes your numbers. No. You know, we don't even know what's coming out of the government has any veracity. We don't know if there's any facts. When they talk about foreign policy. It's, it's ready, fire, aim. That's what our, that's, that's what our foreign policy is. We have big guns, we have big bombs. I'm Donald Trump. Let's go bomb something and let's help our donors make money and let's put Americans in harm's way. Let's put our troops in harm's way. Let's use our national treasure. It's up our debt and deficit. All that's happening at once. What did they say? What's our new 2030 projection or 2040 projection? 62 trillion.
- [35:01]
Amy McGrath
Yeah.
- [35:01]
Denver Riggleman
In debt, 4.7 trillion added by the big bold, beautiful stupid ass bill. Right. So we have all this happening right now and I think really what it comes down to, we don't know what we're doing. We have, we're literally out of control with a chaos administration run by kooks and nutters and we all are victims of it.
- [35:21]
Amy McGrath
We are. And Congress doesn't know what's going on. The Pentagon press cord is not there. The other day, Denver, I don't know if you, you, I'm sure you were following this or maybe you were on travel. The airspace around El Paso was closed very much and I was getting texts from friends of mine, you know, fellow veterans, people that sort of are in the know a little bit like, hey, what's going on? Are we going to bomb Mexico? Are we going to drone strike? I mean, and I, we, of course we aren't. They closed the airspace apparently because DHS had some laser weapon that they got from the the Pentagon and probably had a, some sort of mishap is my understanding of why they close airspace. But the point I'm trying to make here is it's totally plausible that we could have been getting ready to strike Mexico. We would not even know. We don't even know. I mean, there's something wrong here.
- [36:21]
Denver Riggleman
There is. I will tell you. They did take out a balloon with that directed energy weapon they thought was a drone, but it was a party balloon. And you know what my biggest problem with that is? Do we have enough weapons to actually absorb a thousand balloon attack? Do we have enough armaments to go after if we are just attacked by party balloons all across the United States? The fact that they actually mistook a drone for a balloon for a drone. Just talk. Just the inadequacy, the incompetency, and the fact now that we have NORTHCOM up in arms against CBP and DHS because, like, what the hell? What are you talking. What are you guys shooting down in the sky? DHS is shooting down stuff in the sky. You're morons. How did you get that weapon? You guys are idiots. You don't even know ttps. You don't even know freaking how to escalate. You don't even know what you're looking at. You're so dumb.
- [37:15]
Amy McGrath
Well, they got the weapon because Pete Hegseth gave it to him a month ago.
- [37:18]
Denver Riggleman
Yeah, of course. That's exactly. That's. They're probably like, what is going on? What are they UPS parcel posting the freaking weapon?
- [37:25]
Amy McGrath
Well, it's like. It's like the real trained military is seeing weapons that are really high tech and dangerous handed to kids that don't know what they're doing. I mean, that's. That's where we're at right now.
- [37:45]
Denver Riggleman
Morons. I had somebody in my post, Amy. They're like, well, thank God that they did shoot it down a serious individual. Right? Because it could have been a drone. Okay? There's multiple layers of ignorance and stupidity in that. Okay? Oh, it's easy to mistake a balloon for a drone. No, it's not.
- [38:05]
Amy McGrath
No, no, it's not.
- [38:07]
Denver Riggleman
I. I know what a drone looks and sounds like because I've been attacked by him in Carson and Odessa and my Goliath. I did drone warfare for the United States Air Force. I've even flown my own drones. Amy, you're not going to mistake a balloon for a drone. You're an idiot. Here's the second thing. Do you know that some people in government thought that they would close down El Paso? I'm going to tell you. Guess I hope everybody's sitting down. All the producers sitting down, everybody behind us here, here's what they thought. They thought they were preparing for a UFO landing. So we have that too. So we shot down a balloon. People thought it was a drone. We could have been going into Mexico because we don't know they're so insane. And we had people thinking that El Paso closing down for 10 days was preparing for UFO and alien visitation. That's where we're at as America. It scares the hell out of me because, listen, I think stupidity and evil can sometimes be the same thing. There's no way around it. Whether you get shot on purpose or Shot on accident, you're still getting shot. And if these people are that stupid, the downstream is very bad things happen to very good people. And that's.
- [39:14]
Amy McGrath
Yeah.
- [39:14]
Denver Riggleman
So that's, that's all of that just insane story. It's insane.
- [39:19]
Amy McGrath
Yeah. And when you're talking about shooting things down over American airspace, there's a reason we're cautious about it. You know, lots of people fly drones. Lots of people fly drones just to take pictures. I mean, you know, welcome to the world today. Not everybody that's flying a drone is somebody who's bad. And if we're in the business now of, you know, having these laser weapons which by the way can easily shoot.
- [39:45]
Denver Riggleman
Down an aircraft, investment into laser based drone systems, people can go look it up on Google right now is huge. Here's the other thing. Do you know that the rich are actually looking at laser based drone systems to protect their airspace above their homes? There's marketing going on where you can have drone protection for your house. All this is happening. And, and you know, so again, I just want to let people know that there's a lot happening where if you have a stupid, ignorant administration and then that downstream is everybody connected to them are stupid, bad things are going to happen because stupidity is terminal. That's just.
- [40:27]
Amy McGrath
That is, that is your, your slogan.
- [40:31]
Denver Riggleman
It is because it is. It is absolutely right.
- [40:35]
Amy McGrath
Amy McGrath is country of a party. Denver. We're going to Riggleman is stupidity is terminal. Let's do some quick takes. The United States slipped to its lowest ever rank in global corruption. When there's this global corruption index and we are now in 29th place, Denver, does that surprise you?
- [40:57]
Denver Riggleman
Nope. Nope. I, I would say we're lower. We don't, we're not even counting some of the corruption, you know, getting rid of federal acquisition regulations, putting Palantir in charge of all AI. You have Grok, Palantir and Anduril sort of controlling the DoD system now. It is an oligarchy full of nutters with a lot of tech. And I think I would say that we're going to fall lower in the next year. I'm going to say we're going to be below 35 or 40.
- [41:22]
Amy McGrath
Yeah, I think, you know, this current administration deploying the tools of government against perceived foes. The corporate foreign bribery that we talked about, you know, last week we talked about, or I talked about this on the, on the podcast with this idea of the chic out in the Middle east doing 50% of Trump's Bitcoin or crypto and investing $500 million into his family. And then we get around to give the AI, the highest AI chips to that government over there, which goes to China. And Trump is, is, is his family is, you know, getting money for this. And he's using government and national security secrets and he's selling them. At this point, that is just one thing. Not to mention all of the buying into things like, you know, the, the, the extension to the White House now and the Trump's inauguration. And now we've got the 250 year anniversary of the United States where Trump is using that as, you know, his next mechanism for wealth for himself.
- [42:39]
Denver Riggleman
Of course, they're laundering money directly into accounts controlled by his family.
- [42:44]
Amy McGrath
Yeah. And Uruguay, Uruguay is ahead of us on the lack of corrupt. The Uruguay is less corrupt than we are.
- [42:53]
Denver Riggleman
Yes. And I just bought some property there. It's a gorgeous place, Amy.
- [42:57]
Amy McGrath
I have never been.
- [43:00]
Denver Riggleman
But I think it's a good place. Now I'm gonna, I'm gonna get 20, 30.
- [43:03]
Amy McGrath
I mean, crazy.
- [43:04]
Denver Riggleman
I don't know if there's. All right, there's not.
- [43:07]
Amy McGrath
Let's talk about the, the fact that the president said he would keep all the Democratic governors out of the traditionally bipartisan meeting of the National Governors Association. So four days ago, Trump said that he would keep some of the Democratic governors out of this meeting. He doesn't like Wes Moore, he doesn't like the governor of Colorado. And so now they're just canceling the whole thing.
- [43:34]
Denver Riggleman
They should. I mean, listen, Trump is such a crybaby, you know, such a beta that he couldn't take it to see people he didn't like that were Democrats.
- [43:44]
Amy McGrath
Poor boy.
- [43:45]
Denver Riggleman
I'm so sad for him, Amy. It's insane. Again, I don't even know what to say anymore. I mean, decision making is.
- [43:52]
Amy McGrath
I know, it's not surprising. It's not surprising. Did you see the, the, the racist post that, that Trump made, I guess in the middle of the night with putting Michelle and Barack Obama's face?
- [44:05]
Denver Riggleman
Oh, I was all over it.
- [44:06]
Amy McGrath
Did you see that? I just, nothing surprises me now. I mean, I know that the next day Trump said, I didn't do it. It was some staffer. I mean, who believes that?
- [44:18]
Denver Riggleman
Then he changed his mind again. Did you see the second one where he said, no, it was me.
- [44:22]
Amy McGrath
Oh, did he?
- [44:23]
Denver Riggleman
He did. On Air Force One, I think. I think Doug can fact check. I think I'm pretty right on that. I think he went and said, well, I don't make mistakes. I did do it. I, I mean, okay, you racist. And again, Republican, we still have Mike Johnson up there parroting every talking point with not a, not one bone of goodness.
- [44:47]
Amy McGrath
Right.
- [44:48]
Denver Riggleman
I almost had an awful joke and I'm not going to say it, but yeah. So, I mean, it's just, it's just cr. Right, A bunch of Christians who are okay with this type of racism and lying self professed Christians.
- [45:00]
Amy McGrath
I guess seriously just trying to normalize this for all of us to just say, oh, it's, it's just Trump. It's not a big deal. Dude, he, he is the President of the United States. He isn't just, you know, Joe Schmo down the street. If my kid posted something like this, oh, I would take his phone away at the kitchen table and I would say, you know, we'd have a talk about why this is inappropriate, why it's racist, why we don't do these things. And, you know, he's a kid. You know, my kids are kids and we have the President of the United States doing this kind of stuff.
- [45:40]
Denver Riggleman
Well, he's regressing and sundowning. I think that's really what it comes down to. A lot of that stuff comes out at night. I don't even think he knows where he's at. I mean, I just think he's so full of dementia and hate there. We should, we should be, we should. He should have been impeached. Not just impeachment, found guilty of crimes. I mean, it's incredible to me, just, just the crypto scams and the laundering money, them. I just, I, I don't know.
- [46:04]
Amy McGrath
Yeah, there's a lot there. Well, I want to, I want to end on a good note. There's a couple things I want to talk with you about. Last week I had the fortunate ability to go down into Lexington to the distillery district there to talk to some small business owners, not just distillers, of course. I stopped in to two different distilleries, but other small business owners. Really talking about the tariffs as you and I have talked a lot on, on the show. But it's, it's important to hear from people on the ground. But I stopped in at this one place called Dark Arts Whiskey House and it's really cool. It's in Lexington and you can actually take the whiskey out of the barrels and bottle your own. I know that's probably no big deal for you, but it was kind of cool and I bottled my own here. This is the straight rye whiskey finished in Oloroso sherry and it's quite good. So shout out to the dark arts. Whiskey House. It was.
- [47:11]
Denver Riggleman
I like to try that when you get it to go there. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. I'm on it. Shout out.
- [47:16]
Amy McGrath
Yes. And are you an Olympics fan? Because that's what's great.
- [47:21]
Denver Riggleman
I mean, I am, yeah. Why? What's up?
- [47:24]
Amy McGrath
Well, shout out to the Olympics. I mean, I love it. My kids love it. What's your favorite sport? Winter sport?
- [47:32]
Denver Riggleman
Well, I was rooting for my daughter's best friend. She sort of wrecked in the loose summer. Britcher was in the loose, so that was the one. I was really watching the Olympic luge. My favorite winter sport. I mean, I do, because we've been following the luge now for the last 10 years. That's probably my favorite. But I do listen, I love hockey. Yeah, that's, I'm not a, you know, I like a lot of the shooting sports, I think are really cool. But, yeah, it luge was my thing. The only thing that I saw today, I think, which was interesting. Shout out to the Olympics. Yes. Especially our athletes being brave enough to speak up. Fantastic. Using their First Amendment rights. But you saw the Ukrainian skeleton guy, skeleton driver, get kicked out because he had a tribute to the lost Ukrainians on his helmet in the Olympics kicked him out. And that's been a bit of an issue today. So. Yeah. Which was what I, you know, but again, as far as our athletes, I'm really, really proud of them.
- [48:30]
Amy McGrath
I am, too. I think they've done a very good job of being professional, but also speaking their minds. And I think that's, that's the American way. You know, you have a right to, to say what you want to say. And they are our best athletes or they wouldn't be there. And I'm certainly proud of them. You know, I'm a bit competitive and I, when the Olympics comes around, I'm always, you know, usa. I want us to win in the medal count right now. We are like number two.
- [49:04]
Denver Riggleman
And beating us right now.
- [49:05]
Amy McGrath
Who's beating us? Okay, so I was kind of shocked. I, I, we're, we're being beaten by two countries at the moment. We're either tied or being beaten. And as we do this broadcast, it might change. Right, Denver. Because, you know, the Olympics are going on as we speak, but Norway is in the lead.
- [49:24]
Denver Riggleman
Okay.
- [49:25]
Amy McGrath
Which doesn't surprise me because I'm like, okay, I can be beaten in Winter Olympics by Norway. That's kind of their thing, right?
- [49:32]
Denver Riggleman
Yeah.
- [49:32]
Amy McGrath
But we're also tied or second place behind Italy. Oh, and that was surprising. And part of me is like, oh, well, that's the home field advantage. You know, they, they, they know all of this speed skating tracks and all the, you know, they practice on that stuff.
- [49:52]
Denver Riggleman
Italy does have a lot of snow, right? Up in the mountains, right? Isn't there an Italian Alps? Well, I think.
- [49:58]
Amy McGrath
But that is where the Olympics are being held.
- [50:00]
Denver Riggleman
Yes, yes. Yeah, but I think it's their skiing too, right? They're known for their skiing. And. But you know what? As soon as we get into real sports, I think we'll do well. I'm kidding. That was a joke.
- [50:12]
Amy McGrath
Well, the hockey is certainly fun. My kids love the speed skating. My daughter loves the speed skating. My son is really into the snowboarding, both the trick ones and the, and the speed, you know, downhill type ones. So it's, it's really cool. And the Winter Olympics has really evolved since we were kids. I mean, when we were kids, it was. I, I don't know, I thought it was just like speed skating, hockey. There was no snowboarding. There was downhill skiing, slalom, and figure skating, and that's pretty much it. Now you have women's hockey.
- [50:48]
Denver Riggleman
You know, Winter Olympics was, to me, always figure skating for some reason, when I was a kid. That's what I sort of remember.
- [50:54]
Amy McGrath
There's so much more now, and it's really fun to watch.
- [50:58]
Denver Riggleman
It is. It's awesome. It's awesome. This has been great. I'm so glad I'm back in the States, able to do the show with you. Very excited.
- [51:06]
Amy McGrath
It's been a great show. And make sure everybody continues to follow us. We'll be here every week.
- [51:13]
Denver Riggleman
Every week. And remember, you've got to subscribe to Truth in the Barrel on every single social media platform. Go there and we're even brave enough to go on true social. It's incredible how brave this show is.
- [51:31]
Amy McGrath
At Charmin, we heard you shouldn't talk about going to the bathroom in public, so we decided to sing about it.
- [51:38]
Denver Riggleman
Ultra strong, you can use less Better than the rest Shaman Ultra strong Booty pass the clean test Summon wave texture it's the best Study up, teach a lesson on fresh your booty pass the clean test Shaman ultra strong Charmin Ultra.
- [51:56]
Amy McGrath
Strong with diamond weed Texture Cleans better than the leading one ply brand so you can use less Enjoy the go with charming.