Devil's Cut | Nuclear Proliferation Under Donald Trump

Summary

Truth in the Barrel: Devil's Cut | Nuclear Proliferation Under Donald Trump

Episode Release Date: April 15, 2025
Hosts: Amy McGrath & Denver Riggleman
Website: www.TruthintheBarrel.com

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Introduction: Setting the Stage for Nuclear Concerns

In the Devil's Cut episode of Truth in the Barrel, hosts Amy McGrath and Denver Riggleman delve into the alarming topic of nuclear proliferation under the Trump administration. Drawing from their military backgrounds and shared passion for the United States, Amy and Denver unpack the complexities of nuclear weapons development, the erosion of international trust, and the potential for a new arms race.

Current Landscape of Nuclear Proliferation

Amy opens the discussion by highlighting recent headlines that underscore the growing fears of a nuclear arms race:

• Financial Times: "From Berlin to Tokyo, the fears of a new nuclear arms race."
• The Economist: "Europe thinks the unthinkable on a nuclear bomb."
• Wall Street Journal: "Trump prompts European calls for a homegrown nuclear umbrella."

Amy McGrath [01:37] emphasizes the gravity of the situation:

"Trump will likely be responsible for more countries gaining nuclear weapons."

Denver supports this by reflecting on the evolution of nuclear arsenals:

"We have today thermonuclear weapons. If you look at what it would be like if you take this thermonuclear weapons that we have today, they would be the size in comparison of like a bus in terms of explosive power."
[04:15]

Understanding the Nuclear Umbrella and Security Assurances

The hosts delve into the concept of the nuclear umbrella, a cornerstone of post-World War II security strategy. Amy explains that the United States has provided security assurances to approximately 30 countries, assuring them protection without them needing to develop their own nuclear arsenals.

Amy McGrath [09:09] elaborates:

"A security assurance is simply like a handshake deal where we go to these countries, say Germany, Poland, countries that could very well have the technical capability to create their own weapon at point if they wanted to… We will protect you. Don't build more."

Impact of the Trump Administration: Erosion of Trust

Denver critiques the Trump administration’s approach to alliances and international relations, asserting that actions and rhetoric have significantly undermined trust with key allies.

Denver Riggleman [12:18] states:

"If you're one of our allies who's under the nuclear umbrella at Denver, what do you really think the Trump administration is going to come to your rescue in a nuclear confrontation? No. You’re gonna want to get your own nuke, right?"

Amy concurs, linking this distrust directly to Trump's policies and statements:

"This is something new. This is not something that you saw under last Republican administrations. It's not something you saw under Democratic administrations. It's purely a function of this Trumpism."
[19:14]

Case Studies: Poland and South Korea’s Nuclear Aspirations

The discussion zeroes in on specific nations feeling compelled to seek their own nuclear capabilities due to diminished U.S. support.

Amy McGrath [17:08] cites Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk:

"We would be safer if we had our own nuclear arsenal. Poland."

Similarly, South Korea's internal polls indicate a majority favoring nuclear development:

"The majority of South Korean citizens believe that they should develop their own nuclear weapons."
[17:08]

Denver connects these developments to Trump's perceived favoritism and unpredictability:

"South Korea’s like, for the love of God, give us nukes. We don’t want to rely on those buffoons over there."
[20:11]

Historical Context: Comparing Past and Present Policies

Amy and Denver draw parallels between the current administration and past U.S. leaders who successfully maintained nuclear stability through strategic alliances and treaties. They reference President Reagan's efforts to reinforce NATO alliances and President Carter's diplomatic negotiations to prevent nuclear proliferation.

Denver Riggleman [21:33] reflects on historical stability:

"The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty… those efforts have been very successful… because of our greatest generation built for us."
[21:33]

Consequences of Continued Trust Erosion

The hosts express deep concern over the long-term implications of the current administration's policies, warning of a cascading effect where more countries may feel compelled to develop nuclear weapons independently.

Amy McGrath [24:11] underscores the catastrophic potential:

"Nuclear war is no joke. The more weapons out there of this magnitude is no joke."
[24:11]

Denver echoes the urgency, questioning which nation might be next to abandon non-proliferation norms:

"What the first country is outside of the nine that will weaponize a nuclear weapon… If we get more countries that have nuclear weapons that is absolutely making us less safe."
[25:55]

Conclusion: A Call to Action

Amy and Denver conclude by emphasizing the critical need to restore trust with international allies and recommit to non-proliferation efforts. They warn that failure to address these issues could lead to devastating global consequences.

Amy McGrath [27:04] passionately states:

"All these places gone. Nuclear war is no joke."
[27:04]

Denver urges listeners to educate themselves and engage with these pressing international security issues:

"Listen to us in your vehicle because you want to get smarter and we're going to make you smarter."
[27:47]

Key Takeaways

• Nuclear Proliferation Risks: Under Trump's administration, trust with allies has eroded, increasing the likelihood of more nations pursuing nuclear weapons.
• Nuclear Umbrella Under Threat: The U.S. nuclear umbrella has been a pivotal factor in preventing nuclear arms races, which is now under significant strain.
• Historical Lessons Ignored: Past administrations successfully managed nuclear tensions through strategic alliances and treaties—a strategy currently being undermined.
• Urgent Need for Rebuilding Trust: Restoring credibility and commitment to international security assurances is essential to prevent a new global arms race.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Amy McGrath [01:37]: "Trump will likely be responsible for more countries gaining nuclear weapons."
• Denver Riggleman [04:15]: "They would be the size in comparison of like a bus in terms of explosive power."
• Amy McGrath [09:09]: "A security assurance is simply like a handshake deal… We will protect you. Don't build more."
• Denver Riggleman [12:18]: "What do you really think the Trump administration is going to come to your rescue in a nuclear confrontation? No."
• Amy McGrath [17:08]: "We would be safer if we had our own nuclear arsenal. Poland."
• Amy McGrath [24:11]: "Nuclear war is no joke. The more weapons out there of this magnitude is no joke."
• Amy McGrath [27:04]: "All these places gone. Nuclear war is no joke."

Final Thoughts

In this compelling episode, Amy and Denver present a sobering analysis of how the Trump administration's policies have jeopardized decades of nuclear stability. Their informed perspectives urge listeners to recognize the profound implications of diminished international trust and the urgent need to address nuclear proliferation to safeguard global security.

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For more insightful discussions, subscribe to Truth in the Barrel on your preferred podcast platform and join Amy and Denver in exploring the critical issues facing our nation and the world today.

Transcript

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[Amy McGrath]

So welcome to Truth in the Barrel, where we discuss or shall we say distill down the important issues you need to understand. And we do this along with a little bit of Whiskey. I'm Amy McGrath with my co host, Denver Riggleman, and this is our Devil's Cut episode.

[Denver Riggleman]

That whiskey looks really good. I tell you what, I wish I was drinking that with you right now. But Amy, you know we're going to have some time to do that.

[Amy McGrath]

So I want to start this by reading to you. Three headlines, okay? Just from the last week, here's the first one. From the Financial Times. From Berlin to Tokyo, the fears of a new nuclear arms race. From the Economist, europe thinks the unthinkable on a nuclear bomb. And from the Wall Street Journal, trump prompts European calls for a homegrown nuclear umbrella. What the real headline should be, Denver, is this, Trump will likely be responsible for more countries gaining nuclear weapons. That's what I want to talk about today. Before we do, we have to take a little bit of a step back and just kind of explain where we're at with these weapons because it's not something that we normally talk about, right? I mean, during the Cold War there was a big nuclear scare, but a lot of people don't really think about nuclear weapons anymore.

[Denver Riggleman]

And I think they should. I mean, you know, me and you both being prior military, I think we think about cascading effects a lot and we think about, well, what the heck's going to happen, right? If we have a superpower like the United States, it sort of falls out of favor with NATO or the eu. And I think, Amy, and you know this topic really, really well, probably better than I do. What is there nine Countries that are nuclear capable right now.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah.

[Denver Riggleman]

Is that correct?

[Amy McGrath]

There are. And again, if we, if we take a step back, we, we know that, that we dropped the atomic weapons, atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Right. And since then, nine countries have developed or gained nuclear weapons. Only nine. And we'll talk about why. But I think it's important to remember that the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima, Nagasaki were relatively small in terms of warheads compared to what we have today. And I know, Denver, you were in the Air Force, and so the Air Force dealt a lot with these types of weapons, as does the Navy. But we have today thermonuclear weapons. And when I talk about this to my students on national security, I remind them that if you look at the destructive power of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, that type of weapon, it's maybe the size of like a tennis ball. Okay. If you look at what it would be like if you take this thermonuclear weapons that we have today, they would be the size in comparison of like a bus in terms of explosive power.

[Denver Riggleman]

You know, I was thinking about, you know, I was B1S, right? I was an intelligence officer on F15S and F16S, but B1S. And Amy, you know, even with scram jets, things like that, we look at something that can be launched, you know, from the belly of a bomber, right? It just absolutely, it, it, it overshadows what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a level that's hard to comprehend and just pure numbers, right, Amy? I mean, when you're looking at nuclear proliferation and you probably know these numbers, I mean, you're talking about thousands of warheads, right? Weaponized warheads that can be deployed at any moment. And I think that's what's so interesting about this administration. Amy. And why you thought, I think why you thought this might be one of the most important topics that we discuss is that this administration as a sort of a fantasy based or, you know, an administration that even lately has looked like buffoons, right? They're actually withdrawing our influence from Europe, from Asia. Right. And when we specifically talk about China and Russia, those are very big influential countries that we're withdrawing from or withdrawing from the world stage, with many countries having these nuclear warheads.

[Amy McGrath]

Well, first of all, the destructive power of them is just incredible. We almost can't comprehend it. And one of the reasons I wanted to talk about this for one of our first episodes is there's really only one weapon of mass destruction. There's really only one way the sort of the Earth as we know it right now could get wiped out, other than like an asteroid coming, right? But is nuclear annihilation. That is why it is so important. This is no joke. We have nine countries that have them. We have many of those countries are our allies. Great Britain, France has these weapons. We have other countries that are not China, Russia, we have some countries that you call them tweeners in between, right? India, Pakistan, they have these weapons. But also North Korea has them. Iran is trying to gain them. Israel has these nuclear weapons. So that's important. But I also think what's important for people to understand is that that number of nine, only nine countries that have them, has been relatively stable for a while. We decided in the 1960s as a country, really, with the Soviet Union, that the destructive power of these weapons was so great that we needed to come together with our biggest adversary to try to stop the spread of these weapons beyond the United States and the Soviet Union and the very few countries at that time that had it. And you know what happened? We actually did it with diplomacy, with carrots and sticks, with this thing that we're going to talk about next, which is called the nuclear umbrella, which you heard in that, in those headlines that I talked about. We did it. And now all of that is under threat because of Donald Trump.

[Denver Riggleman]

Well, you know, we talk about the nuclear triad, we talk about how weapons are deployed, you know, and for me, right, you know, when I was trained on intelligence school, Amy, and I know, a little bit older than you, you know, but, you know, our whole thing, right, was, was Russian threat systems. And I'm sure in your training, you know, as a Marine and F18s, right, you're talking about air to air tactics against, you know, a Russian fighter, whether it's a MiG or an SU or whatever you were going against. So it's pretty interesting to me, when I was going through tech school in the end of the 90s, right, we still sort of had that Cold War stink. I mean, I know that we're talking about, you know, Gorbachev, tear down this wall. We're looking at the late 80s until the early 90s. I enlisted in 92, right. And then was a, then was a commissioned officer in 98. But there was still that sort of that Cold War stink, right? It was Russia and the US and, you know, you still had this nuclear issue. Which person was going to do it, you know, who was going to push the button, all that. Well, now in this new asymmetric world, you have nine countries with nukes now. We made it, you know, Sort of stable. What happens if the United States decides that they want to withdraw from START treaties? They don't want to deal with any burgeoning countries with nukes? We become nativist and isolationist. We withdraw from our NATO allies. And I know that's something you really want to talk about, right? And we withdraw from our secondary allies, right, because we have NATO, but there's allies all over the world. Because you were talking about, what, nine. Nine countries have nukes. How many countries are in the world? What, between 193 to 196. Whoever, you know, identifies, you know, self identifies as a country. So what happens, Amy, and what are your thoughts? Because, I mean, you teach this and, you know, for me, obviously have my thoughts based on being in Congress and things like that. What happens if we withdraw our support from NATO and the EU thinks that we're not there for them? What does that look like?

[Amy McGrath]

Well, a lot of things, but the one thing that we should focus on here, just in terms of nuclear weapons, is this proliferation. Why? Well, one of the reasons we've been able to keep those numbers down to only nine countries having these weapons is because we have extended what we call the nuclear umbrella. Some people call it security assurances to our friends, to our partners. We have 30 different countries right now where we have actual security assurances with. What does that mean? What is the security assurance? It is simply like a handshake deal where we go to these countries, say Germany, Poland, countries that could very well have the technical capability to create their own weapon at point if they wanted to. We go to them and we say, look, don't. Don't get a weapon. Don't get nukes. We will protect you. We have lots of nukes. And by the way, we have, like, 5,000 of them, you know, over a thousand ready to go at any time. We will protect you. Don't build more. And. And it's based on trust. Denver, that country has to trust that Washington, that the president will actually protect them if they are attacked by a nuclear state with a nuclear weapon. They have to be able to say, okay, Seoul, South Korea, has to trust that we will, you know, potentially trade New York for Seoul and that. And those countries are constantly worried about this. And so what do we do to sort of reassure them? Well, we position troops in their country. We position nuclear warheads in their country. They don't protect those nuclear warheads. They don't own them. They're protected by US Troops, as you know, but they're positioned in their country, and their Air forces trained to be able to drop those bombs in the event that there's a nuclear conflict, we would hand over those weapons. That's a way for us to assure them those. That's what's called nuclear assurances. And right now, that is very much the thing that is fraying. And so these countries, when Donald Trump says he rants about our allies, his unpredictability, his ignorance when it comes to our national security, his friendship with authoritarians, this recent signal chat thing that just came up, where pretty much everybody on his national security team was bashing our allies. If you're one of our allies who's under the nuclear umbrella at Denver, what do you really think the Trump administration is going to come to your rescue in a. In a nuclear confrontation? No. You know, so you're gonna. You're gonna want to get your own nuke, right?

[Denver Riggleman]

Yeah, I mean, I would. I mean, if. If I'm looking at a Pete Hegseth or a Mike Waltz or a Tulsi Gabbard on a chat channel, that adds in Jeff Goldberg. And then you have the conspiracy theories coming out now by Waltz and them that somehow Jeff Goldberg, the Atlantic journalist, hacked Signal, which is ludicrous because they actually have the signal. Screenshot of Mike Waltz inviting Jeff Goldberg onto the chat. Right. I know this is. It seems maybe small, maybe to some people, it's like, you know, it's a signal chat. It's one phone number accidental ad. It's just sloppy. Well, it's really tough to be sloppy in a nuclear world because one number off is catastrophic.

[Amy McGrath]

It's about trust.

[Denver Riggleman]

It is about trust. And if there's no trust from our allies, that this administration even has capable or competent individuals, it makes it very, very difficult for any country to think that we're going to honor our agreements. And that's why I love calling this the Devil's Cut. Because what you're talking about, what the listeners should be doing right now is they should be looking up the nuclear and security assurances, looking up the nine countries that have nuclear weapons. They should be looking up any of the treaties that have happened over the last, let's be honest, over the last, what, 60 years? 70 years, right. When it comes to nuclear treaties. But you said something, Amy. You said something about what the US had for decades that I think we've completely lost is trust with our allies. And how do we gain that back quickly? Story about just numbers being off. Amy, you probably pickled GPS weapons, right? You know how GPS works probably better than anybody, right? Well, I got the mission plan for GPS weapons and I remember we were working with Ford air controllers in 2001 and we got a set of coordinates to drop. Right. And by the way, and Amy knows a lot of this, B1s hold 242000 pound JDAMs, GPS guided on rotary launchers. So we're going over and guess what we noticed? We're in trigger ops. We're doing close air support with B1s. I know that's nuts but that's really, really. Where it started was 9, 11.

[Amy McGrath]

That is nuts by the way.

[Denver Riggleman]

It is. So we're looking at, we're looking at this target and guess what we found? Their coordinates were off. Guess what they had done. They had transposed their control coordinates and their targeting coordinates where they were dropping right on them. Yeah, that's a sloppy number input. So when you're talking about Mike Waltz just being sloppy, adding somebody. We're not 10 year olds, we're not just adding somebody for a chat on accident, on Discord or on Slack. We're actually supposed to be the adults in the room. And I think what you're talking about with trust is, I think this cascading effect on what we call this devil, Devil's Cut episode is what people need to be looking into right now.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah, and it's really interesting you bring that up because our allies and partners, you know a lot of people are thinking well yeah, they, they should pay their own way and that, that folks, that's not how it works. We, we, we have, the United States has these weapons. We wanted to maintain these weapons. We don't want the rest of the world. And in fact it's, it's generally known on both sides of the aisle for like 80 years that we did, we wanted a policy of what we call non proliferation. We don't want these countries to get. And, and while we're just talking about this, this isn't just Amy and Denver making this up. I want to give you a quote from the Polish Prime Minister and his name was Donald Tusk. This was a few weeks ago, quote, we would be safer if we had our own nuclear arsenal. Poland. How about in South Korea where the majority of the citizens in South Korea is a democracy. They've been polled many times. The majority of South Korean citizens believe that they should develop their own nuclear weapons. And by the way, the leaders there on both sides of the aisle, in their aisle in South Korea both believe that they should have enough nuclear material to basically get a bomb within two weeks. So what that means is Bring them to all the way up to what, what's called the nuclear threshold there. That is really striking. And by the way, in South Korea, they have the highest density of nuclear reactors in the world. So it's not like it would be really hard for that country to get a nuclear weapon. Just so you know, if you have nuclear power, you pretty much have the technology to be able to develop a nuclear weapon on your own. What countries can do that? Many of them, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Germany, you name it. These countries totally.

[Denver Riggleman]

Scandinavia, give me, you know, it, you know, STEM is so strong, you know, education in these areas, too. And again, I guess I'm mind boggled as we're going through this, that we don't have an administration right now that can seem to see outside of its isolationist policies. And here's what I'm going to humbly submit, Amy. I would humbly submit that our isolationist policies for this nativism that somehow has infected the United states with the 77 million people that voted for Trump. And I'm just going to be straight up, as somebody who served as a Republican in Congress, isolationist policies and this global, I would say, environment that we're in are absolutely putting Americans at risk. And when you talk about other countries seeing our behavior, like Poland and South Korea, and they're clamoring for their own nuclear arsenal or deterrence ability based on how they see China and Russia, I think we're in for a real long haul over the next decade. And I just don't know how we reestablish that trust with our allies at this point.

[Amy McGrath]

It's going to be very hard. And when people say we're being, well, why have these countries gotten nukes on their own, recognize that we gave them this deal and they've, frankly, nuclear, developing nuclear weapons is pretty expensive. So if, if you're a Poland and you don't have to, you don't really want to, because you can now focus on, you know, growing your economy and, and other other things that you want to put your resources into it instead of nuclear weapons. But if you have lost that trust with the United States of America, which is the guarantee of these nuclear assurances, it's not Britain, it's not France, it's us because we have the amount. If you've lost that trust, you're now thinking about developing your own. And this is something new. This is not something that you saw under last Republican administrations. It's not something you saw under Democratic administrations. It's purely a function of this Trumpism. Which in my belief is very, very dangerous for our world.

[Denver Riggleman]

Well, you know, Poland, we know why Poland has a pucker factor of 10 right now. Looking at, you know, the American administration is playing naked twister with Putin right now. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. You know, it's. We really look like we're friends of Putin. And I think that Poland's going. Wait a second. Or NATO, for God's sake. And if we capitulate, even if we. We finalize, you know, what's going on in the Crimea, and I know we can talk about Ukraine in another. In another show, but there's a reason Poland has a pucker factor. How about South Korea? They're always going to have a pucker factor because of North Korea. And when you look at Donald Trump saying that Kim Jong Un, the guy with the bull haircut, is one of his good friends, right? A murderous, honestly, piece of s. Right. Piece of shit. Right? That's over North Korea. No wonder South Korea, they're pulling. South Korea's like, for the love of God, give us nukes. We don't need to rely on those buffoons over there. I don't want J.D. vance coming over here, Right?

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah.

[Denver Riggleman]

Or Stephen Miller.

[Amy McGrath]

And it only takes one country, whether it's Turkey or South Korea or Poland or Germany. It only takes one for the dam to break. And once it breaks, you're going to see all of these countries race to get a nuclear weapon because they cannot trust the United States. Look, France made this determination back in the 1960s when they developed their own weapon. Charles de Gaulle basically said, I don't trust that you're going to trade Paris for New York. And they developed their own. Since then, we've been able to institute some like. Like we talked about carrots and sticks. The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, which is another treaty that helps stop the proliferation of weapons. And in general, those efforts have been very successful. You know, minus. Minus North Korea, like, North Korea, okay, they pulled out of the. Of the treaty. Iran is trying to get a weapon. But in general, having only nine countries have these weapons is really a victory of the post World War II Grand Strateg that our greatest generation built for us. And that was a world where the United States had some real responsibilities. And I don't think Donald Trump understands that. And this is, in my mind, the biggest one.

[Denver Riggleman]

I mean, Amy, how could other countries not take us serious when we want to build Golden Dome? It actually sounds like a bad bathroom soft porn. You know, this is really what we're going to, we're going to do right this. Protect our country with Golden Dome and. Or it sounds like a bad Austin Powers movie. And, you know, and I think that's what people are looking at, is that we're just completely unserious. And I, I think that unserious equals dangerous.

[Amy McGrath]

It is dangerous.

[Denver Riggleman]

I mean, is South Korea going to be the first one that says, okay, we've had it, we're going nuclear? You know, is it, Is it, Is it somebody. Is it the ball?

[Amy McGrath]

I mean, they got to be looking at Donald Trump's tweets. They got to be looking at the signal chat from the, from the national security leaders and think we can't trust the United States. It does have some historical background to this. Under the Nixon administration, Nixon pulled the United States out of the Asia Pacific area more than our Asia Pacific partners wanted. They became very uncomfortable when Nixon, of course, pulled out of Vietnam. Nixon pulled out of using our Navy as a, a force that would go in between the Taiwan Straits, you know, to bolster up our, our defenses on Taiwan. He pulled troops out of Taiwan. He pulled troops out of South Korea. And what happened? Well, South Korea wanted to get their own weapon then. Taiwan wanted to get their own weapon then, and actually created their own nuclear program. And what happened over the next decade, plus President Carter and then President Reagan had to basically walk them off back from the plank, right? They had to. Had to walk them off, had to provide carrots and sticks to get them to stop their program. You know, what did Reagan do? He sent troops back to South Korea. He bolstered up some of our defense spending, gave them those assurances that we would be with them. What did Carter do? He used the stick approach and said, hey, we're going to take away some military aid from you if you continue with this weapon. I worry that if we get to the point where these countries are looking at Donald Trump and they are saying, we just can't trust the United States again. Because even if Donald Trump goes away, there could be another J.D. vance out there, and it's best for us to just get our own weapon. And once that dam breaks, everybody's going to get them.

[Denver Riggleman]

You know, if you have a bully that's taking everybody's milk money all the time, and he's using a bazooka to do it, right? It's. I do feel like we're sort of the challenged bully in the schoolyard, using a bazooka to take people's milk money. Just an idiot, you know, just sort of clamoring around, you know, looking for kids. But, you know, I think, I think we are that. And I think at some point, if you're being bullied or you see a bully that was supposed to protect you that now turns that bazooka on you, you're gonna, you're gonna arm, you're gonna fight. And I don't blame these countries for doing so. And I think that's the path we're going down. And I wonder, Amy, I wonder, and I hope people do look this up, what the first country is outside of the nine that will weaponize a nuclear weapon.

[Amy McGrath]

It may be our allies. Everybody focused on Iran. It may not be Iran. It may be one of our partners. Bottom line is for everybody that thinks that, you know, Donald Trump is making us stronger in the world, you couldn't be any further from the truth. I believe in this case, as in many others, Donald Trump is actually making us less powerful. He's making us less influential, and more importantly, he's making the world less safe. Because if we get more countries that have nuclear weapons that is absolutely making us less safe, you have more chance for, for a nuclear war. You have more chance for accidents to happen in this area. And the bottom line is he, Trump can't be trusted to keep us safe or uphold a deal. And that's going to cost not only the United States, but the entire world.

[Denver Riggleman]

You know, I've said we're both military, Amy. This is a Blue Falcon administration, and I think that's what we have right now. They're going to turn on anybody if they believe it actually enhances their own self interest in the sort of mag administration people coming up. Like you said, it's not just Trump. If JD Vance win or you have the next SEC is Vivek Ramaswamy. Right? I mean, or, you know, you need to. And then. Or the next administration. You know, Stephen Miller runs for vice president under J.D. vance or a Tulsi Gabbert or RFK Jr actually gets a vice presidential nod. You know, think about that. There's, there's nothing that stops that crazy. Because if you look at every single person in the administration, we're talking to dni, talking the FBI director, you're talking to National Security Advisor, you're talking about the SEC Def. I mean, none of these people are capable of making adult decisions. And I think that's what the rest of the world is saying. And I think nuclear proliferation is actually a bloom off of that flower. And we can't put that genie back in the bottle. That toothpaste that toothpaste is squeezed.

[Amy McGrath]

And let's be clear about the destructive power of these weap. They incinerate cities. The destructive power they vaporize people. Melting glass, radioactivity that will kill millions for years and years and years to come. We are talking cities gone, entire countries destroyed. China destroyed. The United States destroyed. Russia gone. All these, these places gone. Nuclear war is no joke. The more more weapons out there of this magnitude is no joke. And that's why this issue is so important and we need to talk about it more.

[Denver Riggleman]

Amy, every time, you know, we talk, I learn. And I think I like to impart some of what I know too. But even I learned something today on your knowledge, on security assurances, on nuclear assurances, but on the countries that have nukes and who could get nukes. And everybody out there that is listening to Truth in the Barrel, the devil's cut. If you want to hear this great information over and over again, you have to subscribe, please go to YouTube. We love to respond to the comments and subscribing is easy. Just click on the button or download your favorite pod. It can be anywhere. It can be from Spotify to Apple. We really don't care. Listen to us in your vehicle because you want to get smarter and we're going to make you smarter. So thanks for being here on Truth in the Barrel. We'll catch you next time. Listen to me and Amy. But again, don't forget us, YouTube or podcast, and we'll see you later. And welcome to this incredible podcast. Ugh. Spam calls. Sound familiar? Introducing line two. Get a second phone number right on your existing phone. Imagine discounts, appointments online, forms. Handle it all without giving out your personal number. It's like having a secret weapon against spam. And when those unwanted calls sneak through, boom. Blocked. No more interruptions, no more stress. Stay connected, stay protected. Keep your main number safe and out of harm's way. Ready to take back your phone?

[Chris Gethard]

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[Denver Riggleman]

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