U.S. Politics! Pentagon scandals, ICE targets Somalis

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trying to flip a boat, loaded with drugs, bound for the United States, back over so they could stay in the fight. Cotton calling the strikes righteous and entirely lawful. I didn't see anything disturbing about it. Tell me about some who are raising questions. Yeah, I mean, you're seeing certainly there are some Republicans like Don Bacon, right, who is sort of more... more moderate, or at least a republic who is more willing to criticize the administration and the president, who is basically calling for Pete Hegseth's resignation or his firing. But in general, I think what we're also seeing is, you know, sort of larger shift among kind of rank and file. So, you know, even people like Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi is a good example. Now, there are people like Tom Cotton, the Arkansas Republican senator who, you know, basically just said, you know, more. And that's going to be one of the dividing lines here. But, you know, I think in general, what we're seeing is the larger sense that, like, you know, if you go back to the Signalgate report came out last week as well, that is the sort of earliest text set scandal involving this kind of text threat that involved a reporter. He shared details of the March 15 U.S. attacks on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi fighters in a signal group that included President Donald Trump's top national security officials and accidentally included the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg. Those screenshots Joe Heggzath discussing plans to kill a Houthi leader just two hours before the operation. And the sense that I'm getting from Republicans is the feeling that... Pete Hegseth is an embarrassment to this administration and that he's incompetent and he's reckless and that they're signaling, I think, that he's somebody that if there was going to be accountability, that it should fall on him.

Tell me a little bit more about the Signalgate report and what it found. So this was obviously, people might remember, Pete Hegseth was part of this chat group, essentially. And he was giving all this information in the chat group about American attacks on Houthis, right? And then what did this investigation conclude? Yeah, so the investigation was basically the big problem with this was not just that this discussion was happening over the encrypted app signal. It was also that they had accidentally included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the Atlantic, on the thread. And Pete Hegseth claimed that the report had... quote, totally exonerated him. And it doesn't at all. I mean, what the report showed was that the entire conception of this chat and the discussion of class-bent material and of military strikes, both, you know, sort of broke protocol, but also, you know, endangered American troops because of the general recklessness of its execution. So again, here, too, you just have an example of... the secretary of defense being at best showed to be incompetent. And I think at worst, just shown to be completely reckless. Yeah. Just on the signal gate stuff, I still, every time I hear this story, like the messages are so specific that at one point he actually texted, this is definitely when the first bombs will drop. It's still so unbelievable. There's like a Saturday Night Live quality to this administration that everything in it just seems like the first 10 minutes. And also it's like bumbling idiocy a lot of the time. And that it makes it hard to talk about it as if it's a real thing. I don't know if you cop it. I think Colin Jost played Hugg, Seth. I only caught a little bit of it so far, but it was pretty good. Now, you got questions for me? Fine. Pretend I'm a random fishing boat and fire away. On Saturday, Pete Hegseth gave this speech at the Reagan Presidential Library, and he really is doubling down on this entire thing. He, among other things, said, if you're working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you. Let there be no doubt about it. President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation's interests. Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment. What's your read on that? Well, I mean, I think that that is the way that this administration conceives of itself. And it certainly is how Donald Trump concedes of his foreign policy. Like, you know, it's funny that that speech was given a day after Trump claimed the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize at the World Cup draw at the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Center. But I think that the tension between this administration is always between. Trump's claim that he is the greatest dealmaker who's ever existed and who is bringing peace to the world in a way that no one ever has before. And the strategy in which the administration enacts most of its foreign policy goals, which is by seeing America's military, its strategic advantage there as...

a way to deter to get what it wants from other countries. And I think that Pete Hegseth is trying to enact some version of this. Now, I mean, the thing that I think is ridiculous about the strikes themselves are that no one I've spoken to is able to describe the actual national security imperative that they enact. And then I think also they... pursue other foreign policy goals, which I think are not the foreign policy goals of the president. They're the foreign policy goals of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, in that case, destabilizing and the Venezuelan regime and I think ultimately toppling it. But I think what we're seeing here, too, is just the way that... the second Trump term even more than the first is playing out are that, you know, there are people, the individual power brokers have an enormous amount of latitude to pursue. their own interpretations of what they think that the president wants. So I think it's worth underlining here, too, that the president has kind of distanced himself from these strikes in some ways, too. So to be clear, you support the decision to kill survivors after the... No, I support the decision to knock out the boats. And whoever is piloting those boats, most of them are gone. But whoever are piloting those boats, they're guilty of trying to kill people in our country.

Do you think that Pete Hegseth's job is actually in danger here? Because Trump does seem to like him. It's a very difficult question to answer. I think the short answer, I think, is that, so Trump is the apprentice guy, right? Like his literal catchphrases, you're fired, but he hates firing people. And I think the way that the second term in particular is working is that they have a kind of no scalps rule. They see firing people as evidence of, you know. the administration being in disarray or of it failing. And resignations would be that way as well, I think. So, you know, they're trying to, you know, for all of the talk of this administration's kind of despotism or authoritarianism, so much of it is built on the projection of its strength and power more than the actual reality. Should Secretary Pete Hegseth, Admiral Bradley, or others be punished? I think you're going to find that this is war. that these people were killing our people by the millions, actually, if you look over a few years. I think you're going to find that there's a very receptive ear to doing exactly what they're doing, taking out those boats. And very soon we're going to start doing it on land, too, because we know every route, we know every house, we know where they manufacture this crap. And I think that they see any kind of accountability here, whether it be in the form of resignation or firing, as damaging that. So I think it's highly unlikely. Meanwhile, this is all happening. as the New York Times is suing the Department of Defense over the Pentagon's new restrictions on press access. And according to the Times Postperson, the policy is an attempt to exert control over reporting the government dislikes and in violation of a free press's right to seek information under their First and Fifth Amendment rights protected by the Constitution. And what exactly are the restrictions that led to many Pentagon beat reporters handing in their credentials instead of... agreeing to them. Yeah. So, I mean, basically what the Pentagon tried to do or sort of successfully tried to do is ban reporting on the Pentagon. They said that, you know, to have credentials, you know, you basically could not use any unidentified sources, for instance, that basically everything that you would. you would produce had to be vetted by the Pentagon in some ways. And these were restrictions that were so onerous and so, you know, so oppositional to the very concept of journalists that, you know, even Fox News did not comply with them. I would also like to take a moment today to welcome all of you here to the Pentagon briefing room as official new members of the Pentagon Press Corps. We're glad to have you. Legacy Media chose to self-deport from this building. And if you look at the numbers...

And, you know, we've seen the new Pentagon news outlet. It's basically all of these kind of like... tiny outlets and streamers, and they're all just, you know, cheerleaders for the administration. There's a lot of talk online about us and our level of professionalism. I'm interested to hear what the level of professionalism was like before. I've heard stories about ambushing people outside their offices, making a hostile work environment for everyone who works in the DOW. What was that like? Oh, it was absolutely crazy. My first week's here. I think that that kind of gets to where I actually think Pete Hegseth is really in danger with the president. It's just that it's in. embarrassing, right? But they're doing not just the lawsuit from the Times, but the sort of new Instagram influencer-friendly press pool. It just makes the administration look bad. And, you know, it's not... really actually that restrictive in terms of reporting itself. Now, it does mean that, you know, we don't have, for instance, you know, reporters from The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, et cetera, kind of wandering around the Pentagon and talking to people, but, you know, they still have phones. They're still talking to sources and doing reporting and doing a job very well, as we've seen on reporting over these strikes. And so, you know, I think that... With Trump, what he cares more about is perception. And in this instance, I think, I'm sure he's happy to, you know, shoot another arrow into the New York Times. What we're also seeing, too, is just kind of haggseth being just embarrassing.

Uncover is your source for the best in true crime. Home to over 30 critically acclaimed groundbreaking investigations. Somebody's going to find them, somebody's going to dig something up, or somebody's going to talk. Fighting to hold criminals accountable. I have to tell people because it has to be stopped. Investigating cults, conspiracies, and scams. This is a perfect storm of conspiracy theories. Find and follow Uncover wherever you get your podcasts. Switching gears a little bit here, Trump has, of course, gone after specific ethnicities and nationalities before he's called Mexicans rapists and murderers. He perpetuated those ridiculous myths about Haitians eating pets. But now he's going after Somalis as part of his ice crackdown on Minneapolis. And what brought on this sudden focus on the Somali community? Yeah, so there's, I think, two ways to answer that. One is just that there's been this kind of sweeping fraud case in Minnesota. Minnesota is reeling from a fraud scandal involving $1 billion siphoned from multiple federal programs during the COVID pandemic. In the past three years, 87 people have been charged, 61 convicted, most of Somali descent. According to investigators, the schemes involved bogus receipts and invoices for meal programs, housing assistance, and behavioral health services. The other is that, you know, Trump has been feuding with Minnesota Governor Kim Walls for most of the year, who was Kamala Harris's running mate, and he's sort of been established as one of the more frequent. sparring partners of Trump. I think there's something wrong with him. Anybody that would do what he did, anybody that would allow those people into a state and pay billions of dollars out to Somalia. And then, of course, there's also Ilhan Omar, who is a Somali American, who is a member of Congress, and is also one of Trump's top targets. Elon Musk Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage. These are people that work. These are people that say, let's go. Come on. Let's make this place great. These are people that do nothing but complain. But I think in general, the administration has seized on this fraud case because it's trying to attack birthright citizenship and just the idea of multiculturalism in America. It's sort of arguing that immigration is antithetical to the idea of America, which is obviously ridiculous. This is a nation that's founded by immigrants. But, you know, they sort of are targeting the Somali community because they see it as being symbolic of the larger fight against multiculturalism. But I think it's also just, you know, you saw this, that awful clip of Trump talking about Somalis in the White House. I wouldn't be glad to have the largest Somalian. Look at their nation. Look how bad their nation. It's not even a nation. It's just a... People walking around killing each other. She's always talking about the Constitution provides me with, go back to your own country and figure out your constitution. All she does is complain about this country and without this country, she would not be in very good shape. She probably wouldn't be alive right now. So Somalia is considered by many to be the worst country on earth. I don't know.

For all of, I think, the talk of Trump's, you know, occasional savviness with this issue. And with immigration, you know, he seized on it because it was an issue that Republicans cared about, first and foremost. And you saw this here, that he was someone who, I think, is disgusted by black and immigrant communities. And that really, I think, shines through. And with the administration, too, I think, you know, there's the message these sound of Thanksgiving. where he called Tim Walz a slur. But that, too, I think, reflected the administrations, I think, really increasingly virulent racism and bigotry. And its willingness, I think, to seize on kind of far-right narratives and tropes that have taken hold in places like England and the Netherlands and to try to apply them to the United States. Yeah, and just there are 80,000 members of that diaspora that live in Minnesota. Most of them are American citizens. Good afternoon. My name is Jacob Frey. I'm the mayor of Minneapolis to our Somali community. We love you and we stand with you. That commitment is rock solid. Minneapolis is proud to be home to the largest Somali community in the entire country. I think it's been very moving in a lot of ways, is that there's been, I think, a real, like, outcry, you know, both in Minnesota from a lot of people about how these are neighbors. They're their neighbors. They're not only American citizens. They're members of the community. They are members of the... state legislature, the members of Congress. And there's been also, I think, a lot of mockery of this, too, that I think Somali is basically, you know, making a joke about... you know, Minnesota being their promised land. And I think it's, in some ways, it's the best way to respond to this administration is by just mocking, you know, the vitriol that comes from it. But I think you're seeing, you know, people rally behind this community in a way that you're seeing people rally behind other immigrant communities that have been targeted by ICE, especially as the administration has sort of spread its crackdown most recently to New Orleans.

Put all of this in the wider context for me of these recent restrictions that we've seen after the two National Guard soldiers were shot in D.C. One of the most sweeping is the decision to halt the processing of all immigration and citizenship applications from 19 countries. Kristi Noem, the Homeland Secretary of Homeland Security, announced over the weekend that this list would expand to 30 countries. What's been the impact of these restrictions? How are they being felt? I mean, I think that there's a lot of outrage and, I mean, especially there's a lot of anxiety. I mean, I think that there was a sense, I think, especially a few months ago that we had sort of, not that we had seen the worst of what this administration was going to do in terms of immigration, but that we had a general sense of what the contours of it would look like and that, you know, they had kind of. done the damage that they could. But I think what we're seeing is that given any opportunity, they will restrict immigration even further. I think the other thing that I found interesting talking to people about this last week was that this administration is also starting to have to do a real kind of dance with the World Cup approaching. And that what we're seeing is that, you know, there has been some kind of... flexibility here and that you know the administration did kind of create a special visa the kind of which we saw in Qatar and Russia that will allow a lot of people not not from nations affected nations like Haiti for instance but from places that we're facing really long wait times that they could kind of find a way in but as we're seeing that kind of more flexible approach to the World Cup itself. The administration is growing even more restrictive in its larger immigration approach. And I think that as World Cup draws near, the sort of tension between those two demands of, you know, of running a, the, what, second largest, maybe the largest global sporting competition and the administration's larger effort to... you know, to basically just change the very face of American immigration to say not that this is a country built by immigrants to, you know, to bring us here, what, tired, hungry, and weak, but that this is, you know, a nation that belongs to the people who are here right now and that no one else is welcome. I think that we're starting to see that really, really, really come to the forefront. Mm-hmm. Since we're on the topic of the World Cup in FIFA, last week I'm sure you saw our Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum were in Washington for the FIFA draw that determined events and games for the World Cup were hosting with the U.S. A pretty uneventful time, no public breakthrough for us in our current trade talks that have been suspended. For example, that's what... we were all watching for. But also, Trump was awarded this, this FIFA Peace Prize, which you mentioned before. And, you know, they played YMCA for him while everyone watched him dance. And just any parting thoughts on that event. I think that.

I, leading into that, talking to a lot of people, I think the general consensus was that this would be kind of humiliating for Trump, that, you know, Gianni Infantino that had a FIFA had kind of very carefully choreographed this, you know, real authoritarian show, frankly, that you just kind of say, oh, the president likes all this stuff. You know, the president wants a Nobel Peace Prize, but he's not going to get them because his administration is literally murdering people in the Caribbean will give him one. This is truly one of the great honors. of my life and beyond awards johnny and i were discussing this we saved millions and millions of lives the united states one year ago was not doing too well and now i have to say with the hottest country anywhere in the world that we're going to keep it that way thank you all thank you have a great time and johnny a tremendous honor thank you um and watching it i was like oh actually like Like, Infantino is the person that's being humiliated here, that Trump is, Trump is getting exactly what he wants, right? What he wants is to sort of bend reality to him. And he's perfectly happy with that. It doesn't matter to him that the village people, you know, look ridiculous. It's fun to stay at the war. or that the Peace Prize itself is fake, right? What matters to him is... I didn't know there was a Peace Prize that FIFA gave out until last week's right. Yeah, no, this is the inaugural one. No one has gotten it before, and it seems highly likely that no one will get it again. And I think that... that that's going to be one of the questions heading into this World Cup. I thought that Mark Carney and Claudia Sheinbaum acquitted themselves very well in this, but that, you know, the World Cup is Trump's and that he wants it. He's going to be front and center in a way that we have not seen a head of state be front of center at the World Cup at any time recently. I... Can't think of any time ever. But I think that that is, I think, more alarming than a lot of people are taking into account right now. I think in large part because of the question of immigration, that it's not just that Trump wants to be front and center at the World Cup because he likes attention. That is, I think, a huge part of it. But there are a lot of people in his administration, most notably Stephen Miller, but Vice President JD Vance as well, who see this World Cup as an opportunity to... broadcast their vision of America, this sort of restrictive, anti-immigrant, nativist, blood and soil, populist thing. And I think that what we saw on Friday was ridiculous and kind of stupid, but it points, I think, to what's going to be, you know, I think a really troubling tournament come June. That's a good place for us to end. Alex, thanks so much. It's always good to have you on. Thank you so much. All right, that's all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you all tomorrow.

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