← Truth in the Barrel
Truth in the Barrel
This Week Unfiltered | 05.29.25
00:45:53
THIS WEEK UNFILTERED | 05.29.25 Today Amy is joined by special guest cohost, Project Seneca Press Chief and former Miss America, Mallory Hagan! Together they are taking an UNFILTERED look at the Trump administration’s war on higher education...
Loading summary
Transcript128 lines
- [00:00]
Amy McGrath
Today we're taking an unfiltered look at the Trump administration's war on higher education is cracking down on international students, the secret ingredient to making America great again. Also, instead of being celebrated for their achievements, West Point grads are made to endure an insulting commencement address. More disrespect on Memorial Day. And we're going to talk about the corrupt presidential pardons that are happening right now. Plus, Trump has a falling out with his best friend forever Elon. And $1 billion is taken out of money going that was supposed to go for US army barracks, the repairs of those barracks, and it's going to pay for the southern border deployment. This is Truth in the Barrel, a different kind of Whiskey Rebellion. Welcome to Truth in the barrel. I'm Amy McGrath and I'm really excited. My co host is Mallory Hagen. She's co hosted before Denver is out of town, out of the country, actually. Mallory is a political candidate, former political candidate, former Miss America at the great Mallory Hagan. Thank you for being with us today, Amy.
- [01:15]
Mallory Hagan
Thanks for having me back. I'm so happy to be here. It's great to see you again. I, I want to encourage everybody, if you all are not following Truth in the Barrel, you definitely should be Truth in the Barrel on Instagram, there's x Blue Sky, YouTube and there are some exciting things coming up from the Truth in the Barrel. If I recall, you guys are getting ready to start a live show. I think it's June 10, right?
- [01:36]
Amy McGrath
That's right. Tuesday, June 10, 7:30 to 8:30pm And I want to make sure that everyone joins the chat for that because you, you've got to. That's the way to interact with us during that incredible first show.
- [01:52]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah. It'll be live and people may not realize that you will be able to see it on X. Like you, you can pull up your ex and watch the show, but in order to participate in the show, when something is live, they really need to be subscribed to you all on Truth in the barrel on YouTube. So if you want to interact with Amy and Denver at the live show, make sure you're subscribed and you're ready to rock and roll. And if you have questions or things you want them to chat about beforehand, just send an email to the show.
- [02:18]
Amy McGrath
I also want to put a plug in Mallory for your podcast, Pretty Furious.
- [02:23]
Mallory Hagan
Thank you.
- [02:24]
Amy McGrath
Take a listen to that, too.
- [02:26]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah, Pretty furious. We talk about politics, but we also do a little bit of pop culture and everything in between. Mostly just all the things we're Pretty furious about that. Are happening week to week. So we'd love for folks, and there's a lot. Thank you. Yeah. Daily.
- [02:41]
Amy McGrath
Excellent. All right, so for today's whiskey minute, all right, we've got Horse Soldier. So I saw this Mallory in a bar. Well, it wasn't really in a bar. I was in a hotel in Indianapolis when I went up there for my kids soccer tournament. And it was behind the bar there. And it's called Horse Soldier. This is what it looks like.
- [03:04]
Mallory Hagan
We have some of that on our bar shelf.
- [03:08]
Amy McGrath
Okay. So you know about this?
- [03:11]
Mallory Hagan
Well, my husband does, of course. I have since I was here last, announced that I'm in fact having a baby. So I don't know anything about that right now.
- [03:19]
Amy McGrath
So I'll be the one drinking.
- [03:21]
Mallory Hagan
Congratulations. But listen, I'll cheers you with my coffee mug later on.
- [03:27]
Amy McGrath
Excellent. So this is Horse Soldier. And your husband knows about this because. He's in the United States Army. Is he Special Forces?
- [03:34]
Mallory Hagan
He's not, no. He's an acquisitions program manager.
- [03:37]
Amy McGrath
Okay. But they're all working together. And Horse Soldier was started by a group of former Special Forces soldiers. These were the guys who, after 9 11, were inserted into Afghanistan. They were elite Green Berets. They were inserted into Afghanistan and they mounted a bunch of horses and went after Al Qaeda in Afghanistan just in the few days following 9 11. And they were really successful. They took over Mazar E Sharif from the Taliban. That was a Taliban stronghold at the time. And they called themselves the Horse Soldiers. They started this whiskey, and now they have Mallory a. Or building, I should say a distillery in Pulaski County, Kentucky. That's near Somerset, near Lake Cumberland. And their whiskey's very good. So my husband told me about this initially. I saw it again last weekend in Indianapolis. So today I'm. Cheers. And I'm going to be drinking Horse Soldier.
- [04:41]
Mallory Hagan
Tell me a little bit about what the flavors are. Like, what do you taste when you taste Horse Soldier? The.
- [04:46]
Amy McGrath
The thing that comes out is boldness. I mean, it's.
- [04:50]
Mallory Hagan
It's.
- [04:51]
Amy McGrath
And it's not a flavor that, like, I particularly. That jumps out at me as, like, I love this. It doesn't. It doesn't jump out at me as I. I love this. It's very manly.
- [05:02]
Mallory Hagan
Okay.
- [05:03]
Amy McGrath
But it. It does grow on you. It's very bold. Initially, when I first had it, I was like, not sure I really like it. But now I kind of. I could scroll on me. Gotta say.
- [05:13]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah, it's grown on you.
- [05:15]
Amy McGrath
Yeah.
- [05:16]
Mallory Hagan
I'll save that one for sometime in November, maybe Thanksgiving. I can have a cup of orange, soldier. A glass? Yeah, whiskey. I mean maybe 18 year old me would have said a cup of whiskey.
- [05:28]
Amy McGrath
Anyway, might be a while. All right, so let's get going. Trump. This week the Trump administration escalated its war on higher education by ordering US Embassies around the world to pause scheduling visa interviews for international students hoping to attend universities here in America. So I have a lot to say about this, but I want to, I want to throw it back to you Mallory, because the first thing that pops out at me is did the elite universities, are they not sufficiently nice to Donald Trump? Is this why he's going after them?
- [06:03]
Mallory Hagan
Well, I mean as you very well know, higher education means higher critical thinking skills. It means better educated populace. It means well rounded individuals who are capable of thinking for themselves and are less susceptible to a cult like mentality, which is what Maggot is. So the sooner he can attack higher education in any capacity, limit access to that higher education or demonize it, he's speaking to his base of people who have decided that higher education is for the elite. They don't speak to us, they don't know any, anything about the real world. And he is in turn reducing access to that education so people won't have any reason to speak out against him. So I, I think it's pretty much a part of the plan and it always has been. He's demonized education science experts, I mean anyone who's smarter than him or has the ability to think critically about an issue because it undermines his ability to lie about anything and not be checked.
- [07:08]
Amy McGrath
Well, it's interesting to me he's taking this as a, as a national security issue. So the Trump administration is saying that they're going to restrict international students from attending Harvard in particular. We know he doesn't like Harvard but.
- [07:25]
Mallory Hagan
Well, because they stood up to him.
- [07:26]
Amy McGrath
Right. But the reason, the official reason is now to root out anti Semites, woke radicals, dangerous terrorists that can't that come in via international student visas. And there's a new rationale that this came out just a couple days ago. But that first rationale is really interesting to me because we haven't had any international terrorists now on student visas. I looked this up since 911 and on 911 there was one, one of the hijackers came in on a student visa. Many of them came in that were studying to become pilots. Some of them came in on business visas, some of them came in on tourist visas. But like one. So we don't have a problem with, yeah, they're international students and terrorism. And now the new reason, Mallory, is to help working class Americans get those slots. So the Trump administration is now saying, hey, these international students are taking these Harvard slots, and so we're going to restrict them and we're going to help our working class students get those slots. And this is really cynical here because none of what he's doing is going to help working class citizens get into elite universities. If the Republicans really wanted to do this, if Trump really wanted to do this, he ought to talk to his House Republican caucus because they just passed that big, beautiful bill. Right. And that actually makes it harder for students to get Pell Grants. And who gets, who are the students that get Pell Grants? The ones who come from poor working class.
- [09:22]
Mallory Hagan
Sure.
- [09:23]
Amy McGrath
Families.
- [09:24]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah.
- [09:24]
Amy McGrath
So, you know, there's a, there's this nonpartisan education organization that's basically said that's estimated that the bill that these House Republicans just passed will change the, the Pell grants and deprive 700,000 people of eligibility for Pell Grants, basically cutting the funding for higher education. So they're, they're saying one thing, we love you, working class, and then slashing it, Slashing the, the Pell Grants.
- [09:52]
Mallory Hagan
I mean, that's the entirety of their shtick from start to finish. Right. It's speak to the working class Americans and everything you do doesn't help them. But I just want to just pause for a second and notice that we have a strong legacy of welcoming international students to the United States for higher education. There are a ton of first and second generation immigrant and international students. I think they make up one in every three that are enrolled in higher education here. And they help strengthen higher education, which we've already discussed. They don't want, but they also, you know, they increase overall enrollment figures. And then when they graduate, a majority of them stay here. They stay to contribute to our economy and provide valuable assets and resources to major international companies. I mean, they are, they are helping America be great by bringing their smarts and their talents to the companies that are here in the United States. And so I think it's, it goes against everything they say about caring about the economy and wanting to make America great and strengthening things here. But I also see this as. Talk about affirmative action. You're not, you're, you're not smart enough to get into Harvard. So let's kick out the people who are smart so that we have greater access for.
- [11:14]
Amy McGrath
It's part of this Republican push to undermine American power.
- [11:19]
Mallory Hagan
Yes.
- [11:20]
Amy McGrath
I mean, that's what this is doing. When you bring in, just as you said, when you bring in international students, you're bringing in talent to America. It is a source of American power and has been for many, many years. The United States has seven of the world's top 10 universities. We have 13 of the world's top 20 universities. Harvard, by the way, is number three. And what that means is that a lot of curiosity.
- [11:49]
Mallory Hagan
What's number one, do you know?
- [11:52]
Amy McGrath
That's a good question. I, I'd actually have to look that up. I, I think it's a British university that's number one.
- [11:58]
Mallory Hagan
Okay.
- [11:59]
Amy McGrath
MIT is number two, Harvard's number three. But it's between the UK and the United States. Those two countries are the ones that kind of compete for the best colleges in the world. And by the way, where do most international students go? They go to either the United States or the uk and so right now you're going to see a huge shift to those international students. That talent that provides innovation, entrepreneurship, all these things is going to go to the uk. They're going to get the benefit of this, and the United States is going to, to, to drop out. Oxford is number one, I'm, I'm being told. Thank you from my wonderful team here. So, anyway, it's a source of power. A lot of these students stay here and, and these students. It's not just the halting of visas right now, Mallory. I mean, what have we seen in the news? What if you're an international student, like the top student in your country wanting to figure out where they're going to go to college? You're seeing international students being rounded up in the United States, sent to, like, Louisiana.
- [13:04]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah.
- [13:04]
Amy McGrath
And then being deported back.
- [13:06]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah, I was going to say kidnapped. I mean, let's stop, stop calling it rounding up and deported. People are being kidnapped without due process and sent to places they've never been before. And that would be terrifying. I mean, the fact that I don't want to derail the topic of education, but just on that for a moment, the fact that other countries are warning people not to come to the United States, not to travel to the United States again, undermining that power, undermining our standing in the world on the global stage. I think it's all, it's all tied together. And in addition to that, this is something you and I were just chatting about, but I think it's important to note the attacks on women are very much a part of the attack on higher education. Women are receiving their bachelor's and master's degrees at higher rates than men across the country. They are moving into higher echelons of the workforce and in their career paths than men across the country. And I think it would be naive to think that a portion of the attack on higher education is not in line with sending women back to the kitchen where the Republicans have stated many times they think we belong.
- [14:17]
Amy McGrath
Yeah. It's real. And it's not just these attacks on Harvard University. Right. The Trump administration signed an executive order almost immediately. Right. To shut down the Department of Education.
- [14:29]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah.
- [14:30]
Amy McGrath
They've taken the, Trump is talking about taking billions of dollars away from Harvard for not, let's, let's be real. For not towing the party line.
- [14:40]
Mallory Hagan
Yep.
- [14:41]
Amy McGrath
He, he wants these universities to toe the administration line. I mean that. I just think it's dangerous, it's wrong, it's going to undermine American power in the long run. Soft power, they don't like that term. Okay. But that power is power. And well, this is, this is, this is going to hurt us.
- [15:00]
Mallory Hagan
I also think this is something that we mentioned the last time I was on the show, but it bears repeating that these, these policies and this type of attack on higher education, reducing funding, this is not just when Donald Trump's done will all revert back to whatever. Right. These are generational consequences. These are removing people who are going to medical school, to law school, who become the experts in our society for this generation of people. So we're looking at a whole generation that's losing those Pell Grants, losing access to the scholarships that were allowing them to get that education when they go on to become those doctors and lawyers and other experts. So this isn't something that's just minuscule and short lived throughout the course of this administration. It will have a generational impact on our country, if not longer.
- [15:56]
Amy McGrath
It's terrible. Well, considering President Trump's hostile views toward education, does it come as any surprise that he is horrible at giving commencement addresses?
- [16:09]
Mallory Hagan
You know, I, we, I watched this speech and we're talking about the West Point speech, the w. West Point commencement address. And so if you don't know, maybe you don't. My, my husband went to West Point, his brother went to West Point, his father went to West Point. So West Point family and just, I just can't imagine. I've heard the stories of what attending West Point Academy was like. Lots of great stories, but also it's really hard. What those cadets have done for the past four, some of them five years is extremely difficult. And it is not like everybody else's College experience. There are a ton of rules. There's a lot that you're doing in that age range that it's just very different than the average university. It's tough to get through. And I can't imagine doing that for four years and feeling like I finally did it. I got through it. I made it through all of these inspections, all that stuff. To have Donald Trump foam at the mouth about trophy wives and drag shows, I just. I can't even imagine that. And the poor cadets who he called up on stage without them knowing that they were going to be called on stage. That happened a couple of times. I thought to myself, oh, I can't even imagine what that would feel like, especially if I wasn't a supporter of his. And at my graduation, I was having to shake his hand and be like, hey, thanks for being here. Even though you haven't once talked about the fact that this graduation is about the cadets in front of. Just crazy.
- [17:48]
Amy McGrath
I mean, it was crazy and it was disrespectful. Look, I. I'm not a West Point grad. I was a Navy grad, so there'll be some jokes here. But all of the academies, Air Force Academy, Coast Guard Academy, West Point, which is the US Military Academy. If you graduate from there, you go into the U.S. army. U.S. naval Academy. If you graduate from there, you go into the Marine Corps or the Navy. All four academies are really, really hard. They're hard to get into, they're hard to get through. All of them, pride, things like character and integrity and leadership. And the final day, the final event is your graduation, where you throw up your cap. Everybody in your family attends. It is super emotional. It's also the day you take the oath of office as a second lieutenant to support and defend the Constitution, because your journey at the academy is over. But your journey as an officer leading soldiers or leading Marines or leading sailors has just begun. So it's a big deal. And it all happens that one day. Now, people have said, and I've read online, that people are like, who. Who invited President Trump? He's terrible. Well, folks need to know that the president normally goes to each academy during a term of office. So this year he'll go to West Point. Next year, he'll. He'll do the commencement address at the Air Force Academy or at the Naval Academy or at Coast Guard, and they kind of rotate that way. Now, the other academies get a different commencement speaker, like the Secretary of Defense or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Vice President. Okay? So that's how that works. They rotate. This year, he was assigned or picked to go to. Picked himself to go to West Point. And the other thing that people need to know is it's not just the speech itself that was so disrespectful. It's that he wore a Make America Great Again hat. A campaign hat.
- [19:50]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah.
- [19:51]
Amy McGrath
On stage and in the pass and review when he. When the. When the cadets go in front of him in a formal parade, he's wearing that hat. I have to tell you, that is like the most. That is like giving the big middle finger to everyone who is in the professional military, because the military is apolitical. We're not to be used as a campaign prop. And so, you know, it's. It's going against everything that is the traditional and the norms of the academies and of the military itself. And this is a part of either Donald Trump either not knowing, not caring.
- [20:29]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah. Or not caring.
- [20:31]
Amy McGrath
Not caring.
- [20:33]
Mallory Hagan
Or.
- [20:35]
Amy McGrath
Having no guardrails, no one around him to be able to snow Mattis, no Kelly, no General McMaster to say to him, sir, take. Take off the hat.
- [20:47]
Mallory Hagan
This is inappropriate.
- [20:48]
Amy McGrath
Yeah. Go on stage. Here, I'll hold the hat. He doesn't have that anymore. And so therefore, it's super awkward because from the military's perspective, we're looking at this guy and we're thinking, this, we shouldn't be used as a campaign rally. And then, as you mentioned, the speech, I mean, he's talking about criminals like Al Capone as if they're good people. He's talking about his golf buddies as heroes, not West Point graduates as heroes, his golf buddies.
- [21:19]
Mallory Hagan
It very much is not a commencement speech.
- [21:23]
Amy McGrath
No. All this stuff. At one point, this class of West Point graduates got to hear Trump called our country hotel. I mean, that's totally normal.
- [21:36]
Mallory Hagan
Totally, totally normal. I. This is. Okay, this is what I kept thinking. Every time he went back to the prompter, he sounded somewhat reasonable and rational. Right. Somebody had written him a commencement speech.
- [21:50]
Amy McGrath
Yeah.
- [21:51]
Mallory Hagan
And one thing that we've seen over and over again in the news, especially in the past couple of weeks, and I'm not even going to name the people who wrote this book, but this talk about whether or not Joe Biden was mentally fit, but where is the conversation about, I mean, we should be driving home, that Donald Trump is not mentally sound. The man cannot pull together a coherent sentence. And that was on display every time he had a thought in his head to go somewhere else. You were like, what are we talking about? How did we get here? So that is what was really a standout to me. It was. First of all, it was like an hour long, and half of it was him on random tangents about things that had nothing to do with the day or the, or the event. And.
- [22:41]
Amy McGrath
Well, and I'll say this about Biden, Joe Biden, President Biden, when he gave his commencement addresses, he stayed and he shook all those hands.
- [22:53]
Mallory Hagan
Didn't have to leave because he had somewhere more important to be.
- [22:55]
Amy McGrath
Apparently Trump just took off, you know, says his, his crazy speech and then leaves. I don't know. I. The other thing about Donald Trump just, just in the past few days is his Memorial Day post, which we, we should all be, like, used to this now, this craziness. But I'm sorry, I'm not. Yeah, I'm not used to it. I. I lost friends in combat. I lost friends in the aviation community, in the military, which is an inherently dangerous community to begin with, just in training. That day is really a tough day for me. I'm. I'm with my. My friends and my family, and it's, it's fun. But for me personally, I always remember my friends and Donald Trump, our President of the United States, has a social media post that is just super disrespectful for anyone to anyone who gave the ultimate sacrifice and their families.
- [23:55]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah.
- [23:56]
Amy McGrath
And just this country. I mean, his, his social media post went on about blaming Joe Biden for things, boasting about the Olympics and, and the World cup and all these things that he never once talked about what Memorial Day is all about.
- [24:14]
Mallory Hagan
Well, I also. Same here. Memorial Day is. Is in some ways fun. You know, we had the kids, we were out and about and, and making burgers and things like that. But my husband has also lost friends throughout his time in service. And so every year he does a Murph workout, his way of paying tribute. And I have done that in years past. Not this year, baby said, no thanks. But. But yeah, I mean, we. We definitely have conversations and talk about the importance of the day and try to with our kids as well, just so that we're. We're making it known that while all of these fun things are typically happening to start the summer, that this day is really about the people who paid the ultimate price for us to have the freedom to do the things that we do on a daily basis. And I, I think about, first of all, the fact that Donald Trump has never once in his life ever thought about serving or sacrificing for anything, much less the betterment of this country. And what that what it set like when you compare other leaders, not just other presidents and vice presidents, but other leaders and the way that they address the day. And then there's him. And you're just like, I not what? Not one single day out of the year could he just take a moment and say thank you for those people who served. So I didn't have to, since I dodged the draft, you know, just. I find that to be. There are so many things about Donald Trump that are horrendous to me. But when I think about the amount of people who can look at a post like that and still think there's somewhere inside of him that cares about our military or cares about being the commander in chief of people's lives and their family's lives and their children's lives, it's such a huge responsibility. And posting, you know, that chaos on Memorial Day was just yet another reminder that he's got no clue it's over the top.
- [26:28]
Amy McGrath
And here's the other thing. The Republicans that they themselves post decent messages for things like Memorial Day and Veterans Day and that sort of thing, and they themselves could give decent commencement speeches if they were told to, but yet somehow they say nothing. Yeah, they say nothing. When Trump does this stuff, it's like, oh, let's look the other way, you know? And it's just. I'm so tired of it. I'm so tired of these guys not having the courage to just say, okay, this is wrong.
- [27:03]
Mallory Hagan
You know, what I don't understand either is we've seen this time and time again that Trump is actually quite poisonous to people who run for office endorsing them. He. He. He really isn't good for their look when it comes to getting reelected. So it does. It does continue to surprise me that we do not have more people, more Republicans in elected office that are willing to say, hey, guys, this guy's crazy. We actually, you know, have work to do that we see things differently, but we. We should be focused on our mission. I think it's just a testament to how greed and power can absolutely override everything else.
- [27:44]
Amy McGrath
It's so crazy because it is the most basic. It's one of the most basic American principles to respect those who gave their life for our country. I just. I almost can't believe it. But again, you know, it's part of what we're seeing right now. And on another topic that I think is really important, that goes against some of the basic American principles is this idea that Donald Trump is pardoning people for money and supporters of his solely because they are supporters of his. So just in the past week, Donald Trump pardoned a bunch of tax evaders. This is a couple who were reality TV stars. Their names are Todd and Julie Chrisley. And they were convicted. Mallory. They were convicted by a federal grand jury. So they were not convicted by Biden.
- [28:41]
Mallory Hagan
Right.
- [28:42]
Amy McGrath
They were convicted by a jury, okay, of 12 counts of tax evasion and bank fraud. Fraudulent loans totaling millions of dollars. And with those loans, they bought themselves luxury cars and designer clothes and real estate and travel and all kinds of other stuff. They didn't pay taxes for the years 2013-2014-2015-2016. And they were sentenced to seven and 12 years in federal prison. And you would think that, like, Americans would want people who don't pay their taxes to have some consequences.
- [29:20]
Mallory Hagan
Isn't that why everyone's talking about Doge, like reducing waste and abuse? This is the ultimate fraud, waste and abuse of a system and to not be held accountable. But, you know, it's Trump projecting.
- [29:37]
Amy McGrath
Well, you might ask. Yeah, projecting because he was a tax evader himself, but also projecting in terms of. These folks were outwardly outspoken and in their conservative beliefs.
- [29:55]
Mallory Hagan
And so their daughter campaigned for President Trump.
- [29:59]
Amy McGrath
I think she spoke at the RNC convention.
- [30:02]
Mallory Hagan
Yes. She has consistently been advocating for her parents and, you know, as a daughter, I guess. But outside of that, I'm not sure. I feel like if this is something that my parents did, and I feel like we're cut from the same cloth. If your parents did this, you would be like, what you did was wrong. You should pay the consequence of what you did. It was wrong.
- [30:25]
Amy McGrath
It's one thing to advocate for your parents. It's another thing to say that the Justice Department is unfair and unjust. And that is what she has said. And the Republicans have sort of taken on, you know, undermining our justice system, by the way. So a jury convicted them and an appeals court upheld the conviction. So this is not like a one off thing. Okay. And the other part of this is it's total projection because Donald Trump has pardoned not only this couple, he pardoned all of the January 6 criminals, rioters, terrorists, whatever you want to call them, that, that stormed the Capitol and beat up police officers. He pardoned Illinois.
- [31:10]
Mallory Hagan
Killed police officers.
- [31:12]
Amy McGrath
Killed police officers. Thank you. He pardoned Illinois. Former Governor Blajowich. And I, I don't, I'm going to butcher that name. On corruption charges. He was imprisoned for corruption charges. Trump pardoned state senator. I don't know his name, but somebody from Tennessee who was convicted of illegal campaign financing and other politicians for things like federal wire fraud charges, a Virginia sheriff for bribes. You know, what's the common theme here, Mallory?
- [31:42]
Mallory Hagan
It's all money related. And it's all because at the end of the day, Donald Trump's probably done the same thing in every capacity that every one of these folks has.
- [31:51]
Amy McGrath
And they're all Trump supporters. Yeah, he's pardoning supporters. And then last night we, we are told Trump pardoned this guy, Paul Walczyk. I'm going to butcher that name, too. He was a nursing home executive who illegally withheld millions of dollars from his own employees, their paychecks, and he used the money to buy a luxury yacht. Trump gave him a pardon after this criminal's mother attended a one million dollar in person event at Mar A Lot. So, so here we go. I mean, we're literally selling. He's literally selling pardons.
- [32:37]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah. Wow. Producer is saying that, Blagojevich, is that it was a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice as well. So there's another connection for you.
- [32:52]
Amy McGrath
That nursing home executive owed like $4 million in a fine. And so the family, the mom who paid a million to Donald Trump, she just got out of paying 4 million.
- [33:06]
Mallory Hagan
4 million.
- [33:07]
Amy McGrath
So, like, and it's going to Trump, it's going to his pocket. I mean, you cannot get more corrupt than that.
- [33:14]
Mallory Hagan
Well, you know, one thing I think is really starting to bother me about the media's interaction with Donald Trump regarding things like corruption and criminals is I haven't seen a single reporter in an interview with Donald Trump when he starts talking about deporting people because they're the worst of the worst and they're the criminals and they're the people that are making this country not a safe place, etcetera, etcetera. Why are we not pushing back? I mean, every single journalist should be saying, sir, are you not a criminal? Were you not convicted 34 times?
- [33:48]
Amy McGrath
Yeah.
- [33:48]
Mallory Hagan
I'm so confused by the lack of, I don't even want to call it messaging, just truth telling about the fact that the Trump administration and Republicans doing things like this, pardoning actual criminals, people who have actually committed crimes. Why we're not pushing back on the fact that they, they are the criminals, they are the ones who are corrupt as they go about, you know, talking about people who have just come here for a better way of life. Yeah, that part really bothers me.
- [34:18]
Amy McGrath
I mean, the moral of the story is, you know, if you want to get away with committing a crime, make sure it's a crime that Trump himself has committed, you know, and then be a supporter. Here's something that's somewhat controversial. I don't know if it's ever going to happen, but if it were up to Amy McGrath, I would actually get rid of the pardoning power. I don't think it serves a great purpose. We have an appeals court. You know, we have several steps in our justice system to appeal sentences or, you know, convictions. And I just feel like this is wrong. It's a source. It's now source for corruption. It was always available there for corruption. But we had this norm where we had, you know, decent presidents that, that kind of. Did it use that power? Well, some, some might argue there were some, some tweeners in there, but. But now it's completely being misused, and I just think we need to get away with it.
- [35:23]
Mallory Hagan
Well, I think we both know that'll never happen based on where we're at right now, but I, I agree. I'm not really sure I ever understood the point of it in the first place, outside of being able to just arbitrarily decide who deserves to face their punishment or not.
- [35:40]
Amy McGrath
But anyway, I don't know, maybe somebody thought it was a check on the judicial branch or something.
- [35:45]
Mallory Hagan
I.
- [35:45]
Amy McGrath
It's whatever. Give it, Give. Give that power to Congress. I'd be okay with that. All right, let's get to quick shots, shall we?
- [35:52]
Mallory Hagan
Yeah, let's do it. All right, you ready for it? These are rocky times for Trump's best friend and, and maybe former boyfriend, Elon Musk. He has been publicly speaking out against Trump's big, beautiful bill, as many of us have, claiming that it is destroying the hard work of Doge and it's trying to destroy the economic stability of the United States. And it turns out that trashing the reputation of yourself and your companies and then repeatedly humiliating yourself in public just to appease Donald Trump probably isn't the smartest thing to do. So I hate that no one told that to Elon ahead of time.
- [36:31]
Amy McGrath
I'm not a huge Elon fan, I gotta be honest with you. I just. I was kind of disappointed when he went into. To government service, if you want to call it that. I didn't think that he, you know, he's so arrogant, has no experience in government. Government is not the same as a business. And then the hatchet job he did with this government efficiency, it was just. It's terrible. And, and we're still going to see the consequences of that. It is not over. He might be gone, but what Doge has done is real and so good written, but. Yeah, yeah.
- [37:13]
Mallory Hagan
Well, as somebody who lives in Huntsville, where I'm surrounded by government workers and military, I mean, it's very real. People, friends, you know, losing jobs or. Or going to work on a daily basis, being redirected because of Doge, even. Even Heg. Seth. Yeah.
- [37:31]
Amy McGrath
That.
- [37:31]
Mallory Hagan
That's really real. But I also think. I just want to point out, as we continue to talk about corruption, that one thing Musk never did was reduce his own government contracts.
- [37:42]
Amy McGrath
True.
- [37:43]
Mallory Hagan
And. And he's still taking those. So he might be speaking out about this big, beautiful bill, but he's still reaping the benefits of, I think it's $8 million a day from our government.
- [37:54]
Amy McGrath
Yeah. I mean, they've added to it, I believe.
- [37:56]
Mallory Hagan
Sure.
- [37:56]
Amy McGrath
All right. Well, also tucked away in this House of Representatives bill, this big, beautiful bill that was passed last week that people need to know about is a shift in money. And this pertains to the Department of Defense. Now, there was a shift of $1 billion to pay for Trump and Hegsus border deployment of troops going to the border to, quote, secure the border. What are they really doing? They're really just driving trucks and putting out wire on the border and being there for photo ops. That's my opinion. But we don't really know because there's no transparency right now within the Department of Defense. They haven't had. They've had, like, one press conference the entire time during the Trump administration. But anyway, $1 billion has been shifted, and you might say, okay, well, the military is, you know, the military budget is pretty big, so that's fine, right? Well, no, because where they took that money from was the updating money that they needed. For US army soldiers barracks, this is really important for. For people who aren't veterans. You know, a lot of the structures on bases, the living structures, are like 50 years old. In many of these bases, they have problems with mold, with pests. In the south, where a lot of bases are, they have problems with AC that doesn't work. And this is how we're treating our soldiers. And to me, it's also really ironic that a Secretary of defense who sort of prided himself on being the soldier's secretary, he used to say, I've been in your boots and Trump has your back and all this stuff. Well, that's bullshit, because he's not prioritizing their quality of life with repairs that everybody knows are needed.
- [39:50]
Mallory Hagan
This is just leadership 101. Military aside, if your workforce isn't happy, if their quality of life isn't good. If their living quarters aren't good, they're not going to perform to the ability that they could. And when you talk about having the most lethal military in the world, or whatever his language has been since he's been in this position, it's hard to do that when you can't go home to a house that has air conditioning or you're worried about your family's health because of mold or whatever it might be. So, again, they say one thing and they do another every single time.
- [40:31]
Amy McGrath
And again, remember last time, the last Trump administration, Trump had to pay for his border wall, Right. Because Congress didn't appropriate the money. And so where did he get that money from to pay for it? He took it out of the Department of Defense's schools, you know, and, and the same budget for housing and all the things that, that soldiers need for quality of life. That's where he took the money from.
- [40:57]
Mallory Hagan
So, just to reiterate, who didn't pay for the wall, you know, who didn't pay for Mexico? Mexico, which is all he ever talked about, did not pay for the wall, and they're still not paying for the wall. So, again, they say one thing and then they do another.
- [41:15]
Amy McGrath
Well, I've got one more quick shot that I think is really important, and then we're going to get on to cheers. And this is actually kind of moving into the cheers because we talked a lot about some negative things that have happened, and we always want to end the show on, like, positive stuff. But I've got one more quick shot that I think is, is kind of positive. Federal court, just in the last day or so, blocked Trump's tariffs. It's the United States Court of International Trade, and it ruled that Trump overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers act to declare a national emergency to justify his sweeping tariffs. So the, the court said, no, that's good. It was bad for the stock market because, you know, the, the, the, the uncertainty is crazy right now in, in our economy because of Trump's tariffs. But it's good that a court blocked. Of course it'll be appealed, Mallory. It'll go to the Court of Appeals. It may end up going to the Supreme Court. But look, I don't have my pocket Constitution on me, but I wish I did, because it's in the Constitution, folks. Only Congress can impose tariffs, not the president. And, and we should not be using. And it's great that the court said, hey, he should not be declaring a national emergency to unilaterally have imposed tariffs on the entire world.
- [42:46]
Mallory Hagan
Well, I just Congress should hold the purse strings of all things doge tariffs, but we'll take that as a win. You know, so much winning for Trump this past week or so between, between the tariffs and Elon and whatever was going on with him and his other boyfriend, Putin. It's just we don't have time to get into that. I know, I know.
- [43:10]
Amy McGrath
But I will say Denver, Denver Riggleman. My normal co host. Our normal co host is an in Ukraine or he's in traveling there. So our next episode we're going to be talking from Ukra Train and we'll get an update on everything that's going there. But we have some cheers to end today's show. You've got your what, what were you drinking again, Mallory?
- [43:31]
Mallory Hagan
I'm just drinking coffee.
- [43:33]
Amy McGrath
Okay, that's cool. Coffee's cool. I got my horse soldier whiskey, so I'll have double for you here. Cheers to Abigail Spanberger. So Abigail Spanberger is the Democratic candidate for the governorship in Virginia, which is happening this year. That election's happening this year. She is reportedly 17 points up against her Republican opponent. Love, Abigail Denver, by the way, appeared with Abigail in one of her ads for her last campaign for Congress. So and I know her as well personally. She's amazing. She's a former CIA agent then who ran for Congress with me at the Same Time in 2018, flipped a red district, made it blue, has done tremendous things for Virginia and hopefully she will be the governor. You should check out her campaign. She's amazing and support that. And also I want to cheers to Mikey Sherrill who is running for New Jersey governor. Mikey is another Naval Academy graduate along with me, helicopter pilot. She also ran in 2018 for Congress and I think flipped a, a red district there in New Jersey. Now she's running for governor. Mikey Sherrill's primary is June 10th. So track that and then come listen to our live show at 7:30 that night on June 10th. But here's to cheers to Abigail and Mikey in their races for governor. We need good leaders in this country and both of them are fantastic leaders. Cheers to you guys.
- [45:16]
Mallory Hagan
Cheers.
- [45:20]
Amy McGrath
All right, everyone, thanks for watching or listening wherever you are. Remember to follow us on social media and wherever you listen, your preferred podcast platform. Please rate and review us, email us your questions, your comments and join us for that live show June 10, 7:30. Great. Great to have you with us, Mallory. Thank you for being co host today on Truth in the Barrel. We had a great show and we'll see you next week.
- [45:52]
C
When the Moore family ditched cable Internet and switched to Zigly Fiber, they got so much more. Mr. Moore got more upload speed for next level gaming and live streaming to the masses. With reliable service, Mrs. Moore is no longer her family's IT guru, leaving her more time to stream games into overtime.
- [46:07]
Mallory Hagan
Let's go.
- [46:08]
C
And young Mason Moore got more done quickly uploading HD product demos and video conferencing without free.
- [46:14]
Mallory Hagan
The numbers look good, Brad.
- [46:15]
Amy McGrath
You're on mute.
- [46:16]
C
Switch from cable Internet to Ziply Fiber and get more of what you love for $65 less per month than cable at Ziply.
- [46:21]
D
Fiverr.com marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L, I B S Y N ads.com today.