Epstein Lies, Alligator Alcatraz, and the Crocodile Tears of Michelle Obama

We dive into the ongoing Epstein controversy, examining why the calls for a "list" have become a source of division even within MAGA supporters and analyzing what transparency really means in this situation.

• The Department of Education faces massive cuts after a Supreme Court ruling permits 1,400 layoffs
• First Lady Melania Trump emerges as an influential voice in Ukraine policy, offering cultural insight that's reshaping the administration's approach
• The controversial "Alligator Alcatraz" detention facility sparks heated debate about appropriate conditions for illegal immigrants
• Growing divisions within the Democratic Party as former President Obama suggests members need to "toughen up"
• Michelle Obama faces criticism for podcast comments about women's limitations that seem disconnected from everyday American experiences

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

It's the Elsa Kirk show, with Clay Novak serving up trending news and conservative views Brought to you by the Elsa Kirk Collection and Refuge Medical. And now it's time for the show.

Speaker 3: 0:22

Well, hey there, how are you Clay?

Speaker 4: 0:26

Good, I'm recovering from an uber-busy week last week and weekend.

Speaker 3: 0:30

Yes, you had some fun stuff going on.

Speaker 4: 0:33

Yeah, sure did. Hosted a veterans charity fundraiser Clay Target Shoot on Thursday, jumped on a plane on Friday, went and jumped out of a plane on Saturday. It was busy, busy, but it's all fun things I like to do. So how are you?

Speaker 3: 0:50

I am good. I am good Still on baby watch. Baby has not arrived and she is looking on schedule to be late, probably. Maybe We'll see. We'll see Due date. I told you guys last week due date is the 18th. She just had. My daughter just had her appointment today. Today is Wednesday, guys. We're recording on Wednesday. You will see this on Thursday. We'll be in the comments section with you, watching along with and hanging out with you, hanging out with you. So, yeah, she's a little bit further along, but it doesn't mean much. It can mean everything and nothing. So we shall see, we shall see. I go Thursday, tomorrow bright and early, and so while you guys are watching this, yeah no, I will already long be in Florida and exhausted from nonstop playing with the other grand babies. So, yeah, so everybody cross your fingers that this baby comes on Friday. That would be so fabulous, because that just gives me a longer period of time holding that baby.

Speaker 4: 1:57

I could make a comment about her starting her life properly as a woman by being late to the very first thing. But I won't say that. I won't say that out loud.

Speaker 3: 2:06

No, no, no, no, not at all, and it's so not true, clay? I mean, we're never, never late. We're always on time. In fact, we're early. I am one of those people who is typically early, unless my husband. He is the one who is late. And he would argue that he says husband, he is the one who is late. And he would argue that he says, if it's important, I'm there. He makes fun of me because I'm. I'm like you know, if we're going to a party or get together, I don't like to miss the food. Okay, I love, I love the food. Everything is about food. So, like, let's go, let's go. He's like the food will still be there. Calm down, you don't have to be the first one through the door, I don't care.

Speaker 4: 2:52

I am perpetually early, bred into me by my dad and then just reinforced completely by the Army. But listen, folks, we're already off topic and behind, but so we do have. Great. We got five plus a little bit of a funny, a little bit less of the serious, but five big topics and we will get back on track and we'll get started right after this.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Epstein lies, alligator Alcatraz and the crocodile tears of Michelle Obama. This week on the show we're digging through the smoke spin and straight up swamp nonsense the media doesn't want you to question. The latest Epstein fallout spoiler alert no client list, just a lot of finger pointing, backtracking and MAGA infighting. Then we dive into the quiet pivot on Ukraine with Melania Trump yes, really playing foreign policy whisperer. Plus the Supreme Court greenlights the biggest education department cuts in history. We'll also unpack the rising civil war inside the Democratic Party. And lastly, michelle Obama complains again.

Speaker 3: 3:46

All right. Well, here we go, guys. It is another week, another bunch of stuff and things, actually a continuation of stuff and things. The Epstein list or not, right, clay? I mean lots of big feelings on this, continuing mixed opinions on it within the MAGA base, as everyone loves to call it. I don't know, I don't know. Tell me how you're feeling about this.

Speaker 4: 4:12

I'm angry, and I'm angry for a lot of reasons. One, listen, we're getting everybody's getting wrapped around the semantics of the word list. Okay, I don't know if, I don't know if anybody, maybe people did but in your head if you had this image of a piece of paper with, you know, name after name after name after name after name, like you know, like Epstein had a, you know, had a ledger of sorts and maybe he did, I don't know. But that's that, the use of the word list, I think, is what's got people worked up. I don't care what format it's in. If they've got the file and there is 60 names spread throughout the file as customers, potential clients, whatever you want to call it, compile the list yourself manually, compile the list and put it out, or release the file unredacted in its entirety and let the rest of us peel through it.

Speaker 4: 5:02

I don't care about the word list, I don't care about the format. I want to know the names of the people that are in it and the people that are hiding behind. And I got into it with a couple of folks guys who used to work for me in the army this week that were politicizing this and saying well, you know, the previous administration never said the word list. They never said list. Now listen, people have been talking about a list since like 2006. Okay, new sources everybody's been using the word list as if there was a, a, an actual list, physical list.

Speaker 4: 5:35

If you're hiding behind that in the sense of you know saying, oh well, this is a conservative conspiracy theory or this is, you know the department, conservative conspiracy theory, or this is, you know the department shut up. This is child sex trafficking. If you are not outraged by this, if you are not unbelievably upset about this, if you're politicizing this, if you're blaming this on you know, a political party on one side or the other, you are the problem. You're the problem. I don't care. I don't care about the format, I don't the names of the people. The entirety of the file, all of the information that they have, should be publicly released. That's what we want, period. I don't care if President Clinton's in there, I don't give a crap if George Soros is in there. I don't care President Trump's in there, I want to know who's in there, period.

Speaker 3: 6:22

Yeah, yeah. You know the whole campaign has been on transparency, truth, draining the swamp, like all of the things. Now, in my opinion, this is the first and really only misstep by the administration. From a conservative MAGA point of view, that's my point of view on it. However, this is a huge misstep because it has been such an important thing and, like you said, which is truly the biggest point of all, we are talking about young women and children who were victimized horrifically and deserve justice and deserve um, to just just that, just to have justice done here, and nothing will ever bring back their innocence, obviously, um. But there are people and again I I echo what you said. I don't care who it is, I don't care if it's one of the people I thought were that there isn't anybody that I think that way about, um, other than my husband, of course, but you know nobody. That I think is so great that I would be so heartbroken or angry or upset that they were on this list. I don't care, and again I echo you. Again, that includes president Trump, who I do admire and respect and love as our president. I don't care who's on it. Release it, and you know.

Speaker 3: 7:53

And also the argument is. You know and I just saw this today that you know people are saying, well, you can't, you can't release the whole list because of the victims, the victim's names. You've got to protect their identity. Well, this is a no-duh, like no-duh. Of course, their names are going to be redacted, protected. We want the names of the people who were victimizing children and young women. That's what we're talking about when we're talking about a list, and I'm a little stunned, to be honest with you, with President Trump's dismissal of this whole thing. Like you know, now it's a hoax brought on by the Democrats, now it's this. It's that it's. We need more. We need more. I can, I can believe that because of all the other hoaxes that they did, but you need to show me how and why you're calling it a hoax. You just saying that it's a hoax, that it was these particular people that you know are creating this, you know, make-believe list. You're you're ignoring the actual context of what we're angry about and why this is a problem, and you know so. They do need to pivot, and pivot fast, and I know there is talk, uh, about more things.

Speaker 3: 9:08

You know, credible. He has said himself and I give him that that credit. Um, he has been saying multiple times that. Um, if there, if at his words were, if there is credible evidence to be released, he expects for Pam Bondi to release that. So that's, you know, vague of course, but that is kind of what we want. Give me credible evidence that what you're saying is true. Now they're saying that there's up to perhaps three minutes of the Epstein prison video missing not the one minute that they were talking about and I can't confirm that that's true. I don't know if you have more info on that, clay.

Speaker 4: 9:47

I don't have more info, but I did see the same thing. Two minutes and 50 something seconds, they're saying, is missing from that footage. You know, again, it's all related and there's holes in all of it. You know, if we don't have names of people, why is Maxwell, you know, in jail, right? Yeah, there's number one. You know all of these young girls you know that testified. What did they say? Where are they? And don't just tell me Prince Andrew, I don't want to just stop it because he's not the only one. You know it's the information is there now?

Speaker 4: 10:21

Alan Dershowitz, who has been involved with this legally since the very beginning, has said the names are in there. There is no formal list, the names are in there. He's offered a couple of things. One is that almost all of the names are out already in the public. The media has not covered those names. They're already out there, so you'd have to dig for them and find them. Has not covered those names. They're already out there, so you'd have to dig for them and find them.

Speaker 4: 10:47

He said the most of the names that he knows people know about, but he also said this entire thing is being suppressed, not by politicians but and and not even by the department of justice, in the sense of the law enforcement side of this, or even the attorney general. He said that this is being suppressed by the judges in the legal structure that has, you know, has worked all these initial cases, again going back to the early 2000s. This has been going on, but he says it's the judges that have worked this to the point where information can't be released through legal agreements, and some of them even with Epstein himself, who's dead for crying out loud. I think those agreements are kind of null and void at this point, but I just we need to see it.

Speaker 4: 11:31

Yes, protect the victims a hundred percent. Nobody else, nobody else protecting for no one, I don't care, this is gross and anybody who is defending it and there's a lot of, you know, president Trump acolytes who have said, oh, president Trump trusts Pam Bondi and I'm going to trust Pam Bondi because the press, no, absolutely not. I don't care. We, we deserve all of this, we do.

Speaker 3: 11:57

And you know optics. Optics would say that Pam Bondi is the problem right now, you know, in that she either spoke too soon, said things out of school that she should not have said, which in itself is a problem, talk too much about things that she maybe shouldn't have been saying. You know it's the whole over-promised, under-delivereddelivered thing, so that alone is just a bad look, bad look. Then you have the whole, you know, rumored, probably confirmed to be true. Well, yeah, it's confirmed to be true. I mean, if President Trump tweeted about it or put it out on Truth Social that you know his boys and even some of girls need to play nice, and you know all of that.

Speaker 3: 12:46

Bongino, you know what was or is on the verge of resigning. I don't think that's resolved yet. Uh, cash is towing the line. Uh, he, he did speak, or post um, essentially, that you know, just kind of reiterating. You know everything that can be released is released. It's all there is, whatever. Uh, move on, and that's that has been the gist of it, like move on.

Speaker 3: 13:10

And then then you have, uh, laura Trump saying, well, there's, you know, they're going to release some more stuff. So, like, there's a lot of different things being said here. So get united on this, deliver the message. And the message really needs to be here's everything that we have, that we can, that we can give you legally. They got to. The transparency needs to be done, because this is this is a big issue and it bleeds into other things. Right, because you're like, well, if you're lying to us about this, or we feel like you're lying to us about this and, like you said, so many holes in all of this that it is impossible it's not tinfoil hat wearing to say hang on a minute. This is the complete opposite of everything that has been said up until this point. So they need to fix this very, very quickly because this will become a bigger problem, because it bleeds into other areas.

Speaker 4: 14:03

Well, and so what you're already starting to see, right? So we all knew that President Trump was, you know his name was involved with this. It was the barring of the airplane. And then you know Epstein getting thrown off out of you know Trump property, whatever it was years ago, and everybody kind of wrote it off. As you know, president Trump had cursory contact with Epstein and that was the end of it and I mean, nobody was pushing that narrative anymore. But now that narrative is resurfacing. You know, president Trump, there was a quote from him from the you know middle 90s about Epstein that said oh yeah, you know, he likes his pretty women just like I do. I know Jeff. I've known Jeff for about 15 years now. So that stuff is starting to resurface.

Speaker 4: 14:47

And now what you've got is the narrative of well, president Trump's not releasing it because President Trump is on it, right, and that had gone by the wayside even under the Biden administration. Now everything is up for grabs, literally everything is suspect and yes, there are the rank and file ultimately loyal that will deny everything. But because this hasn't been addressed, like you said, because the information hasn't been put out, because it hasn't been transparent like they promised us, then I think everything should be up for grabs. I think things should be questioned. Until they course correct and they fix this, then they have to suffer the speculation that comes along with it.

Speaker 4: 15:30

Right or wrong, that's reality right now and I and I have sympathy for the administration, any of them. Bondi Patel, I understand Bongino got pissed off last late last week. He got into an argument either with Bondi. I actually heard he got into an argument with the White House chief of staff, which is not an idea and that's why he bailed Thursday afternoon, took Friday off and there was discussion of him resigning over the weekend. But they're all suspect and subject to the ridicule until this gets resolved and I have zero sympathy for them because this is not what they promised us, right.

Speaker 3: 16:07

Yeah, yeah, I am, I am. I'm going to think positively and look forward to that course correction, but it's going to, you know, I mean, this is the problem. It comes really at a price, because now you've shaken our trust here and that's not cool.

Speaker 3: 16:24

Like you're going to have to give us a really credible explanation as to why you hedged on this, um, why, why you kind of waffled all over the place on it and um, you know, help me understand what's going on here, um, I can't fathom a reason good enough for the American public to say oh, we understand why you covered that up now, because we don't care about the elites, the wealthy, the you know influential people. If you were part of doing these things, you deserve to be stripped of everything you have, of everything you have. So no sympathy again, no sympathy, no respect, no, nothing, absolutely nothing. So, yeah, I I hope that the you know the talk of um, some more things being released is things that would satisfy us, basically, and not, you know, I don't want to be just appeased, I just I want for, I want for the victims to have some, some justice, and I think that's what everybody wants. I think people really do have their their hearts and minds in the right place on this, you know.

Speaker 4: 17:36

So yeah, and and until they clear this up, all of the, the all of the rumors, right, and you've heard them too. So you know, hollywood is just one big pedophile ring. You know, all the things that happened around Diddy are 100% true. He just beat the system because he had book on people. You know the held accountable, those are going to continue to swirl, right, it will become, you know, it'll continue to gain momentum and it will has the potential to be all consuming and there will be some sort of revolt, hopefully against in power, you know, or those responsible for this, the elites that you're talking about, because we can't like that. Even prison, even the prison culture, knows there's nothing more disgusting, more vile than a child predator. Even criminals know that. Until we get resolution on this, I'm not tolerating anyone talking this down, downplaying this, easing back anything. We should all be demanding nothing but the truth and full disclosure on the information, with protection of the victims in mind, and compromise None.

Speaker 3: 18:57

Yeah, absolutely. And I'll admit I'm big girl enough to admit that last week I had a waiver, I had a moment of like, oh, we've been talking about for so many years and there's never going to be. And it's not that I cared less, it's you know from last week that the word of the week last week was fatigue, and the fatigue was more and is more about the exhaustion of never seeing the. You know the consequences that these people deserve and it's like I, just you get that frustrated, giving up, like I, I give up, you know, fine, you won. Okay, I can't keep fighting you, and that's kind of that's shifted for me again. And it's like you know, and as we're talking, even more so.

Speaker 3: 19:42

And I watch I don't know if you know who he is uh, victor Marks. Um, I love that man, I love, love, love him, just his. And I made a post about this, I don't know, last week or whatever. And uh, just the first time I ever saw him was from those amazing gun grab videos where he, just like you can't even like you could keep your eyes toothpicked open and you can't even see how quickly he gets a gun. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you got to go watch it. He's just amazing. But he and his wife and his team of people are are very big in the whole rescue of sex trafficking victims, particularly children, and he spoke about this and had some interesting things to say. But you know, I just, we just we just want to see justice period, end of story, right, so do it now. I hope he's listening. I hope he's listening to put the heat on. You know his team.

Speaker 4: 20:38

And maybe because we're starting to see an influence in some way. Maybe, yeah, or the people who need to step in are the women in the president's life. Maybe it's his daughters, who I love to death president's life, maybe it's his daughters who I love to death, uh, or maybe it's. Maybe it's the first lady who needs to step in and say something to the president and we've seen this folks already. Um is, and I didn't know this. I don't think really anybody knew this until the president said it the other day. But we're seeing a, we're seeing a shift, a U S shift on Ukraine. Um, a little bit of it is economic, a little bit of it is dealing, a little bit of it is foreign military sales, but it's all seemingly being generated from the First Lady, interestingly enough.

Speaker 3: 21:20

Very interesting. There was, you know, before this term started, while they were, while he was running. I do remember the not so quiet whispers that Melania was going to be taking on a very different role than she had in his first term and just being more visible, more vocal, more well, all of that, and she has done that. She started that low key right off the bat. She has done that. She started that low key right off the bat. You could see a difference in her, just in her presence. You know she's always been elegant and classy and all of those things and beautiful beyond words. But she has made some power moves and, of course, releasing her book, you know, just really coming out to the forefront. And you know and I would imagine that was a big part of the conversation that if we're doing this again, I'm going to, I'm going to make my mark here as well and and I think she has been this is another sign of that.

Speaker 3: 22:22

And I know, you know, there are people that are like, oh, this is just optics, she had nothing to do with it. They're just saying that I, you know I tend to disagree. I think that that is actually the case. I actually liked his little thing that he said Do I have it? Yes, I do have it. Well, this is what he had to say. It's very short.

Speaker 1: 22:37

I tell the first lady you know I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation. She said oh really. Another city was just hit.

Speaker 3: 22:53

So, yeah, so you know that's him obviously talking about, uh, him going home and discussing the latest things that are that are going on, as husbands and wives do, and talk about your work day together and get each other's opinions and insights. And you know that was a case of that, according to him. That I kind of said to her, you know, you know, it seems like everything went well, he was very agreeable, and she's on the other side going yeah, well, he's still doing exactly what he wanted to do. He's telling you one thing and he's doing another thing, so what's going on with that? So the suggestion is is that, you know he, she gave him a little different perspective and that is the shift here that you see going on. Um, you know, interesting they're. They're calling her agent melania. Have you seen the memes and everything with her? Yeah, I just saw him as I was looking up all of this, so it was funny.

Speaker 4: 23:36

Yeah, I think part of it too. One we all know that she's so much more than a pretty face, extremely intelligent, truthfully, like every other woman in his life, but she also has that touch of the Eastern European culture. I think she understands and provides some great advice and insight to him about that part of the world. That's where she grew up. That's what she knows. She knows it probably better than anybody in his inner circle, and when she says things like that, it has an impact, because I don't. I think she chooses her words carefully, not just in what she says, but when she says them. So when he says they oh, I talked to Vladimir today. Oh, I talked to Putin today, we had a great conversation and she goes, turn the TV on, watch what's going on. He's manipulating you, right?

Speaker 4: 24:24

And and when your spouse not just your spouse, but a spouse of that caliber says those things to you, you take notice and and she doesn't do it all the time and she doesn't, you know, I think, take advantage of her position as his, as the first lady, um, but, but he stops and he listens to her and I think you know we've said all along, as many people you know say, oh, he's in putin's pocket, or he just hates zelinsky, or he's taking sides, or he's an agent of Russia and all these other crazy things. We have adamantly you and I both, and a lot of people adamantly said, listen, he just wants the war to end, that's all he cares about, really cares about protecting innocence, and so every time Putin does, this is bad enough, but when your wife says, hey, he's mocking you, he's taking advantage of you, um, I think it rings home even worse that he wants this to be over with. And so now we're getting a little bit different level of involvement, um, and so the U? S is has, you know, backed away under president Trump, our outward support, direct support of uh, ukraine, in the sense of he just wants the war to end. He doesn't want to contribute to it.

Speaker 4: 25:32

However, very knowingly, now what's happening is that Germany and, I think, turkey are buying directly US Patriot missile systems and then giving them to the Ukraine to defend themselves from these attacks, and it's being done at the blessing of President Trump. So this isn't a backhanded, we're buying it for ourselves and then it ends up in Ukraine on the part of Germany. The president knows about this, it's being said out loud and he looks at it twofold, in that it affects the fight and it defends the innocents in Ukraine who are paying the price, but it's also a business deal, and he can never divest himself from a business deal. So it's good money for your, for US owned companies, defense companies, but also it's NATO and then benefits the Ukraine at the same time.

Speaker 3: 26:25

Yeah, you know, and of course, there are people that are angry about it and saying oh, you know, you're changing your stance. Now, all of a sudden, you're changing everything. You're changing your stance on Ukraine. Well, you know, again, he is a businessman and you can change. You can change gears when things are not going the way that you wanted them to go, like it's actually a very normal thing to do. I'm giving you, I'm giving you this opportunity, you know, and this option really to go a different route than what you're going, meeting him, talking with Putin and Zelensky, you know, I'm giving you these, these options and these opportunities to take a different course and a different path. And when this one was not following the rules, zelensky, he got tough on him and kind of cut him off at the knees and gave, you know, putin the same opportunity, and if he's not doing, you know what should be done. Well, now we're going to, now we change to, we change gears, we change tactics and, you know, it just all kind of makes sense in the grand scheme of things. So, you know, I don't know it's above my pay grade, that's for sure. So, but it seems to make a lot of sense and I personally do like Melania stepping to the forefront here and contributing where she can contribute.

Speaker 3: 27:39

And, to your point, the woman speaks like five languages, that is, you know her region. She understands, like you said, she understands the, the personalities and the behaviors and just the um, the lifestyle and and how they operate there and how they think. So she's a great contributor to this. And you know, probably I'd say to anyone that is balk, anyone from the left particularly that's balking at her direct involvement here or seeming direct involvement. Direct involvement here or seeming direct involvement. Let's settle down. Okay, we had Jill Biden and her work husband using the auto pen, so how about let's not? And sitting in on, you know meetings and everything, so you don't have anything to stand on there.

Speaker 4: 28:25

Yeah, this is not. This is not Jill Biden. This is not Hillary Clinton, this is not Eleanor Roosevelt. That's not what any of this is. She is an advisor, truthfully, in an area that she is an expert in by virtue of who she is and how she grew up. She doesn't overstep her bounds. I think she voices her opinion to him when appropriate, but there is no power grab on her part. When appropriate, but there is no power grab on her part. She is not trying to be that person or that first lady specifically. So let's not get this twisted, folks. She, she is trying to help and truthfully do the right thing by her husband and giving him the insight that she has to help him make informed and educated decisions. So you're right, that's that's. Let's put the criticism aside, because that's not what's going on.

Speaker 3: 29:13

And, by the way, that is a marriage. That is a good wife right there, Because I know, as a wife, as a woman who cares, if I feel like somebody is making my husband look foolish, not on my watch, you're going to, you, will deal with me, you know. And in her own way, that's exactly what she's doing. She's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, nobody, you know, is going to make a fool or try to make a fool of my husband, if I can have something to say about it, and that's what she's doing. So I admire and respect that tremendously, because that's that is what you do as a spouse, as a partner, you know. So I love it. It's good stuff. What do we got next?

Speaker 4: 29:53

Yeah, I think, uh, where are we at SCOTUS Is?

Speaker 3: 29:55

that where we're going next, let's see. Oh yeah, education department. Yeah, yep, let's do that one. That's a good one. Um so, yeah, how about that? The Supreme court? Green lights, mass layoffs Um yeah, how many? What was it? 1,300? 1,400.

Speaker 4: 30:11

Yeah 1,300.

Speaker 3: 30:12

Thank you, yeah, so biggest agency downsizing in history. Now, a good portion of them were already out right.

Speaker 4: 30:25

This was just kind of so. This was a US district judge put a pause on this. It was fourteen hundred fires that had happened back in, I think, march, and then I think there was a ruling, you know so there was an injunction put on in May that said no, you can't do that. And then it went to the Supreme Court Six three decision, go figure. Yeah, I think it was Sotomayor wrote the dissent opinion, and so what her argument is and it's an interesting argument to listen to conceptually so her argument against this is that presidents, the executive branch of the government, does not have the ability to arbitrarily disband departments, directorates, et cetera, that have been approved by Congress.

Speaker 4: 31:15

However, the loophole that President Trump has found again this is her dissenting opinion is that while I won't get rid of the Department of Education, I'll just fire everybody in it, and then they won't be able to do their job and it won't matter. So that's the dissenting opinion. And again, it is interesting because there's a touch of Pandora's box involved with this right, and now I think all of us can agree. Anybody with a discerning eye can look at the budget of the DOE. You can look at where the and this has been well, well documented folks.

Speaker 4: 31:46

Doge did a great job with this. You can go in and see where the dollars have been spent in the last, specifically, four years and the dollars that have been wasted in the last four years and how much of that actually goes to educating kids. And it's not difficult to decide that this is a bloated bureaucratic overblown. You know horribly, you know employed organization that's really not doing anything of value. And that's the consensus from President Trump, the administration and everybody involved. And that's why he put McMahon in there, so that, truthfully, she could put an eye on this and tear it down to the bare bones required at the national level.

Speaker 3: 32:31

Yeah, and of course, you know the, the, the prying, and, you know, pro clutching. Is that what's going to happen to these poor students? You mean the poor students that you've been failing miserably for decades, those students, yeah, it can't get worse than what you have done. It can get better and I think it will get better, you know. And again, it's not that these funds and resources are just disappearing. They're getting relocated to different departments. Who are going to oversee that? And you know, most importantly, I believe it's those funds are going to actually go to the states and they can determine what their schools independently need, you know. So, yeah, you know they like to stir up the hysteria and the panic and, you know, tug at everybody's heartstrings. Like these poor students, they're going to lose their loans, they're going to lose everything. Their educations are going to decline Like. Did you forget that? We're like, what are we 27th in? You know, give me a break.

Speaker 4: 33:33

Stop. I grabbed my phone because it's um. You know, chicago public schools my hometown, chicago, is is a great example of what DOE has not done. Okay, so they just announced Chicago public school systems, um is laying off 432 teachers, 677 special education classroom assistants, 311 paraprofessionals and 33 security officers. Okay, this summer, before school starts.

Speaker 4: 34:03

And the reason?

Speaker 4: 34:04

A couple of the reasons are this Chicago, the city, has mismanaged funds horribly, but also because the S' unions have protected employees for so long and to such a degree that they've bloated the budget beyond the needs of the children.

Speaker 4: 34:22

There are schools in the city of Chicago and we may have talked about this on the show where they've consolidated schools and school districts, where you've got two in the same building. You literally have two full administrative staffs in the same building with a student load of under a couple of hundred kids, but you've got two full administrative. So these are the places where the Department of Education truthfully should be getting involved to make sure that you don't have money being spent to support, you know, the educators and not the educated Right. That's where we've lost sight of the value of this organization is it has gone more towards protecting teachers and curriculum, correcting teachers and curriculum. Read that as messaging, as in whatever you want to call it, right DEI, grooming all these other things that are coming out of it, and not about the true benefit, and focus on educating our children. And you said it our reading rates, our math rates, everywhere we rank in the world, has gone nothing but down since the inception of the DOE, so they've proven their value at zero.

Speaker 3: 35:33

Yeah, absolutely. So no sympathy from me. I am kind enough to say that anyone losing their job and their livelihood is terrifying for them, most certainly, but do not blame the Trump administration for that. Blame the inefficiency and the failing of the people who are running that department.

Speaker 4: 36:14

So you know, that's that's the extent upset at are your union and the Department of Education. Right Administration Administrations come and go, right Unions and their focus and their you know their administrations last for a very long time, as does the Department of Education as an institution. You should be upset with your school district. You should be upset with your teacher's union. You should be upset with your state Department of Education, all of those things because they haven't done anything to protect, truthfully protect you as a teacher and your employment and the benefit of the children, because that's where all of this resides is the kids. This is it's. We are so upside down on this, it's not even funny. And these cuts, truthfully, are well needed. Take that money, give it to the states and you can fix a lot of this.

Speaker 3: 37:04

Yeah, absolutely yeah. I look forward to seeing what's going to be next, because I think it's going to be all really really good, beneficial things.

Speaker 4: 37:13

So, yeah, my only fear and I'll throw one little caveat on this is that now you don't have oversight at a federal level, or you have very little oversight at a federal level for some of those states who are controversial in what's being taught Right, don't have the ability, any robust ability at the federal level to look in on places like California and states like that, where you know the content of their curriculum is, you know, probably worth some speculation or at least something you should look into, right, we won't be able to do that. So now you've got a problem at the state level where kids coming out of California are potentially at a disadvantage, or even you know what they're being taught is is you know. There's not a lot of oversight there, so there's, there's some give and take here, but I would much rather cut DOE at the federal level and let the states have it.

Speaker 3: 38:00

Yeah, yeah, I agree, and you know, and hopefully that means that that parents will get more involved in, more of a say in what's going on with their children's education. Because, as it is right now in the, in the public school setting, you know they're getting shut out, they're getting kicked out of you know court of education meetings and silenced, and that's not okay, that's not acceptable. And, and again, you know, so many changes have gone on right With the higher rate of, and I don't know what the numbers are. I'm actually super curious what the numbers are. Maybe if somebody is watching and they want to throw it in the comments, you can go quickly, search it and tell me, um, what the rate of homeschooling is now, or alternative schooling. I know it's definitely gone up. I'm just, I'm super curious what those actual numbers are. You know, because I've I've said it many times before, I'll say it again I am super thrilled that my grandbabies are going to be homeschooled and you know, if my daughter and son-in-law got to a point where they're like, oh it's, you know it's kind of tough. I don't know if it's going to work financially, we're going to have to.

Speaker 3: 39:09

I'm like I will stop everything. I will come, I will take. I will do it. I will do it just to keep them, and I know and this is not a knock against all public school teachers and personnel and all of that there are so many wonderful, amazing um public school teachers. I have public school teachers that I love and adore and I'm so grateful to to this day for, uh, being a part of shaping my life and who I am and all of those things, and that even goes for the ones that were terrible, because they had a pretty impressive impression as well. Um showed me what not to do and not to be, but, yes, so all the respect in the world to those you know, thousands and thousands of caring, dedicated, great public school teachers. It's not against you, it's against the system that you are essentially trapped in as well because of the way things are. So wanted to make that clear because I come down hard on the public schools.

Speaker 4: 40:08

Listen, I you know my sisters. My older sister's an administrator and my younger sister is a teacher. Listen, folks, I was a substitute teacher for a year and a half in a charter school. I've been in the midst of it, all of it, and I see what it looks like and I've seen what the environment is, and it was a K through 12 school, and so you know we're not speaking out of turn as if we're just people on the sidelines. We're both invested in all of this and, again, very much like our first topic, our concern is our children, and when I say our children, I say the children of this nation, because they are I'm not quoting Whitney Houston but they are the future right.

Speaker 3: 40:47

Like denying they're literally the most important thing, they are our most important resource there are, they are literally everything. So, to not be investing everything that we possibly have and can do to create, you know, just balanced great little humans in this world, like it's pretty much the priority of everything, just my personal opinion there. So, yeah, yeah, any, anything that we can do to better the system and I think that I think we're going to see that. You know, like you did say, and I do agree with you, there's always going to be the outliers, the exceptions and all of that where things do get worse. Um, but again, it's parents, just step step up, stay super vocal, get super involved, um, to the best of your abilities and, um, you know, force, force that change. You have the ultimate say in your children and what they're learning.

Speaker 4: 41:42

So yeah, there's that Cause, if you don't get involved, they end up in prison.

Speaker 3: 41:47

Yes, yes, oh, what a beautiful. Oh, that was so good, so good Love, that Love that I was trying to. I was trying to think of a good one and you just nailed it.

Speaker 4: 41:59

Obviously, this is focused on. You know about 5,000, right, I think, is the capacity number 5,000 illegal immigrants. You know in, um, you know, temporary housing in the deportation process, um, and it was put there for a number of reasons. One, because it was available to because of the inhospitable environment, um, you know that surrounds it, being the Everglades. You know alligators, uh, the massive amount of, uh, pythons that are now living out there, which is crazy, super remote. You know the weather as well, and so you know there's a lot of controversy about this. National Guard is doing a lot of the heavy lifting as far as manning, but really the goal for this is to encourage, if not force, self-deportation when people know you're going alligator, Alcatraz, if you get caught, people will self-deport.

Speaker 3: 42:58

They don't want to go there, right, right and yeah, it's not designed to be a summer camp, guys, like we have, and I have the clip and I'll show it, and I'm probably going to stop it a couple of times throughout, because she said so many things that I just find highly amusing and entertaining. Debbie Wasserman Schultz oh, I'm sorry to do this to you guys, but so she's. She went to take her tour, you know, so she could see what's going on for herself there and the clip is. I just took a portion of her of the clip.

Speaker 3: 43:29

But before she speaks, there's a gentleman whose name I did not catch spoke before her and he was talking about the same thing. He went in there, went for the tour, he walked around, he saw everything and he has I wouldn't call it like a glowing review, like it's a resort. He's describing what he saw there and what he saw compared to what Debbie saw, two very different things. Um, he said the accommodations were reasonable and fine and clean, the food smelled good, appealing. Um, did not look like anything that he would deem as horrific or inhumane or anything like that. So he finishes up and Debbie comes up with. You know her, you know her drama. So here's what she had to say.

Speaker 5: 44:15

Review their detention standards. They are using cages. These detainees are living in cages I. The pictures that you've seen don't do it justice. They are essentially packed into cages wall to wall humans. They are essentially packed into cages wall to wall humans. 32 detainees per cage.

Speaker 3: 44:34

So I'm going to stop right there and let's reiterate the point this isn't a resort. This isn't a five star hotel. You are not going on vacation there. You are there because you are here illegally and you declined the option to deport yourself, so you are a lawbreaker. This is your prison, not a resort, debbie.

Speaker 5: 44:59

That is the only thing. Inside those cages are the bunk beds and there are three tiny toilets that are toilet units that have a sink attached to it, so they essentially drink, they get their drinking water and they brush their teeth where they poop, in the same unit.

Speaker 3: 45:20

So the 12-year-old boy in my brain is laughing because she used the term poop. But you know again, not a resort Deb, not a vacation right.

Speaker 4: 45:32

First of all, that toilet is in every prison in America.

Speaker 3: 45:35

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 45:36

But that is also Japanese technology. They do that all over the place in Japan because what it does is that water that you wash your hands with drains into the tank of the toilet and then that's what's used to flush. It is reusing essentially what is gray water instead of, you know, clean water to flush the toilet itself. It's actually super efficient and you know, but again she's finding something to complain about. Go ahead and play the rest, the next part of the clip.

Speaker 5: 46:05

They bragged that they went above standards, supposedly, and gave them a three-foot privacy wall that stretches the length inside the 32 detainee cage. A three-foot privacy wall that stretches the length of the three toilets in a row. The showers provide no privacy at all. There are no curtains on it. It's a big, open shower unit. There are no curtains on it. It's a big, open shower unit. There are, you know, small walls in each, in each shower, but you know we're talking about all 900 men who are held in this, in this facility 900, right, exactly what?

Speaker 4: 46:39

Like this is every high school bathroom gym class thing that has ever existed. Dormitories in college still do this. This is not uncommon. I don't know where the complaint comes from. This is some sort of inhumane treatment. She clearly has never been in a barracks in the military in her life. Because this?

Speaker 3: 46:59

stuff happens everywhere. Yes, totally normal. Here she is, she's still going.

Speaker 5: 47:04

It is built currently for 1,000. And they have no privacy at all when they're showering For meals. When we walked through the quote, unquote meal prep area, the kitchen area, for lack of a better term the portion that they had, the portions that were available for detainees and they had the portions that were available for employees being prepared at the same time, the portions available for employees large pieces of roast chicken, large sausages and the detainees' lunches were a small, you know, gray turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple and chips.

Speaker 3: 47:42

Okay, so they're getting room and board right, all the amenities, shelter, clean your three square meals a day. I'm not seeing the problem here, especially when these people are technically there by choice. Like you made a decision to not take one option. Again, I'm restating what I already said you declined the option to leave on your own. Now you're going to be here until we forcefully make you leave. Not even close to what you think you're portraying here is so silly. And why would they get the same meal as the people who are working there? Why and I'm thinking, you know to, to a homeless person, I'm thinking a nice Turkey sandwich and a nice apple, and what was it? A bag of chips. It's pretty nice meal. It's pretty good. You know just my opinion.

Speaker 4: 48:48

I, I, I know I'm going to tell a war story. I don't often do this on this show, but I will tell you my first deployment to Afghanistan in 2002. I know that's a long time ago, but it's not that long ago. Okay, my very first deployment in 2002, due to a number of circumstances, I, we were living remote, um, and and everybody who fought especially in Afghanistan will relate to this story Um, but I went an entire month without a shower, okay, a month, um.

Speaker 4: 49:19

I went an entire month with no laundry and when I finally did laundry myself, it was no kidding wash tub, wash board, right and as soon as I hung it all to dry, a sandstorm came through and made everything that I own look like a sugar cookie. All right, I spent three weeks. Every single meal was either an MRE or it was boil in bag kind of food. We did not have fresh food for three weeks. Three weeks, okay, until we got an actual cooked meal, right, we had to airdrop steaks in in the middle of the night to get fresh food. Okay, so the fact that they are getting fresh food, the fact that there's and oh, by the way, we slept in tents, non-climate, controlled right, tents, that was how we lived. There was one computer for 750 guys. There were two Iridium phones for 750 guys.

Speaker 4: 50:14

This is the lap of luxury circa 2002, eastern Afghanistan. So I don't want to hear. If that's okay, if that's good enough for our soldiers, I don't want to hear this crap from her or anybody else for that matter. They're sleeping inside. They have oh, by the way, we were burning feces like this is not no port-a-johns, no port-a-johns. Right, we were burning feces, right? We have more toilets, they've got showers, they've got all of these things. If soldiers can live like that for months on end, these people who had the option to go back where they came from, can live in alligator Alcatraz. I don't want to hear it, not even a little bit.

Speaker 3: 50:52

Yeah, no, no, there there will be no violins playing for any of that pearl clutching sob story that she just tried. And there was a little. There was an actual, an actual moment when she did this, which I loved. I was going to stop it. I'm like, oh, let her, let her keep going. Oh, good grief. So yeah, so that's the latest on that. And, um, I have this many you know what's to give about their conditions. So, yeah, somebody is going to get mad at me for even even implying what I just did there.

Speaker 4: 51:23

She's a great. This is a great transition to our last major topic before we get to a funnier one, and that is people like her why the democratic party is in turmoil. Yeah, president Obama just said it, whatever it was. A week ago he was at a not actually a private engagement in New Jersey where he was caught saying that the Democrats, the party itself, the members of the party, need to toughen up. They need to stop rolling into fetal positions. They need to stop crying and whining. They need to toughen up because this super weak stance that they take on absolutely everything, the American public is getting sick of it. They're tired of listening to it. They're tired of blaming Trump for everything. They're tired of you know the the blame, shifting the finger, pointing the you know victim, you know playing the victim at every opportunity.

Speaker 4: 52:14

And he just got echoed by Rahm Emanuel, his former you know, I think chief was. I think he was the chief of staff. Rahm Emanuel said the same thing. It's been echoed over and over again. I've said James Carville's been saying it for years, and now you're starting to catch it from the media too, because Charlamagne Tha God you know jumped on the Obama quote and said yeah, we know, the Democrats have been weak for a decade for decades, and you're definitely seeing this very clear fracture between these two sides, so to speak.

Speaker 3: 52:47

Your AOCs, your Wassermans, your what's this guy in New York? You know all these people? Oh, mamdani. You know you're seeing this very big split and it's going to be very interesting to see and we've been watching this for a long time because we've seen it coming down the pike. Big, big shifts are going to see and we've been watching this for a long time because we've seen it coming down the pike Big, big shifts are going to happen and I don't know who's going to win control of this party.

Speaker 3: 53:12

Historically, you would say, well, the younger generation is going to win your AOCs and everything. But you know you're not really dealing with. You know, these old dinosaurs. These are people who are, you know, obama. They may want to consider him a dinosaur and now they'll start playing him off as one now, because now he doesn't serve their purpose anymore. You know. So they'll try and push him out.

Speaker 3: 53:34

But you know, I mean you have some people with some bigger voices that that are really basically telling them to knock it off right now. You know, basically slapping their hands pretty hard and saying you know, enough is enough, we got to change tactics. You are losing. You are bleeding um, um support right now and people are just walking away. And uh, who knows what will happen with Elon's party. You know, you may get more of those people than you would have actually thought to begin with. Uh, chris Como, uh, when I see that one, I've got that one, too. Went on a rant against. This is all he does not in this clip. I don't even think he says AOC's name, but this is all about AOC. Here it is.

Speaker 2: 54:13

Impeach Trump is the opposite of having a better idea. You're killing your party. You're killing your party and look, I hope it works out for you. I. You're killing your party and, look, I hope it works out for you. I hope you guys splinter off and become, you know, whatever you really are, because you're not a capitalist and you're not a Democrat and you know you can say well, what do you know? I was raised by a real one. I was raised by a real one. Go ahead and criticize Mario Cuomo. What's going to be your biggest insult that he spawned me and Andrew.

Speaker 3: 54:41

So he goes on. He's got, you know, he's got more to say, but it is it's. It was actually, you know, not a fan, but that was actually a pretty impressive uh against them.

Speaker 3: 54:49

He's not wrong at all, and it's very interesting to see this being called out. So, uh, what do you guys think in the comments? Do you think that this party, the democrat party, is going to fracture into two different parties? Do you think that one is just going to devour the other? And if so, who's going to win? Who's going to win that battle? You know, I think they're. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 4: 55:16

So, it's interesting because they've done some analysis, some actual data analysis, and where they are losing the most voters is men analysis, and where they are losing the most voters is men. So they were always very like. Hey, we know white males are generally conservative, that they count on that they talked about it in the last election the amount of women that vote the same direction as their husband solely because of their husband, right, all that garbage that they threw out there. But really what they've noticed is that, specifically, lots and lots and lots of Hispanic males are leaving and flipping over to the conservative side. But they also saw it's not a huge number, but it is a huge percentage of black males that moved over to the conservative side and we're starting to see more and more of that.

Speaker 4: 56:00

But it goes back to the exact things that President Obama said, that Cuomo's talking about, that Rahm Emanuel's talking about, and that it's this soft, you know, like blame. Everybody whine and cry and throw a fit and there's no toughness in the Democratic Party. Tim Walz was utter and complete failure in that sense. Right, he was supposed to be their man's man and he's not. And everybody sniffed it out in a heartbeat. They don't have that, and unless they have that, they're going to continue to bleed male voters until they regain that. I mean, think about it. Men loved Bill Clinton. Why? Because the guy right, he was guy's guy.

Speaker 3: 56:40

Yeah, they tried to. We already know he's a lot of other things but surface value here presentation.

Speaker 4: 56:48

He was very likable period and they tried to manufacture that with Obama with the sports thing, right. Espn was complicit in that. Oh, let's go talk. He's a basketball guy, he plays and let's do his picks for the tournament of 64, and blah, blah, blah. Everybody saw through that too, right? But now you've got Biden, who was too old to show anything manly, right. And now everything coming behind him is weak and so they're bleeding male voters and there's turmoil in the party, and God love them. If they think that David Hogan, the people like him, are their saviors, then fine, put him back in a position of power. He's backing candidates. Now I mean, you want to talk about turmoil in the party? He is publicly backing candidates and gaining attention for doing it. Do more of that, please do more.

Speaker 3: 57:38

Please do more. Aoc keeps screeching, jasmine Crockett keeps screeching, all of them keep doing exactly what you're doing. We are loving it, and I know they like to think that maga is fracturing, because we're you know now we're just yelling. We're like a big, old, big old italian family all yelling at each other. But we're good, we're fine, we're all fine. Um, so listen, our very last thing. Right, push it right to the wire here, a little bit past the wire, but that's okay, because come on now. Oh, michelle obama is always crying and whining and complaining about her horrible, tough life and how hard it is to be her, uh, on her podcast. That is what her podcast, apparently, is all about how difficult everything is for her, and now she's been generous enough to include all of womankind and how hard we have it and that men can't possibly understand.

Speaker 6: 58:40

Here she is, we have so many landmines and barriers and don'ts and limitations. It's you know, I mean Craig, you're the guy at the table, but I think it's important for all guys listening, especially men raising daughters, to realize that difference, you know, and that thing that, inadvertently, as you are loving and raising these beautiful girls, there are so many rules that make us small, baked in without our knowing it. You know, and I wish I could. I mean I well, you know, I remember people say oh well, she's a female doctor, as opposed to just she's a doctor.

Speaker 3: 59:16

OK, first of all, shut up. Shut up with your ridiculousness. Ok, I am not limited, any more so than what a man is limited. We are limited in different things because we are different from each other. So my limitations are more biology related and, by the way, they're not limitations, they're just simply differences. So don't lump me in with you, as I'm some kind of victim of anything.

Speaker 3: 59:48

We have a lot of stuff that goes on with us physically. I'm not arguing any of that that men do not have. I mean, our whole biological design makes life a little difficult for us. Yes, we have a different experience than men, but I am not going to jump into this ridiculous club of women who need to put down men and their experience to just build up my poor me. And then let's just talk about her specifically and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who I actually love as an actress. We've talked about this before. I find her comedic timing. She is brilliant as a comedic actress. Love her Other than that. That's all I can say on that.

Speaker 3: 1:00:30

But for these two women who are multimillionaires, who live in big, beautiful mansions, have security details and protection and their own podcast where they can sit in this beautiful and their own podcast where they can sit in this beautiful, lovely environment and to have the audacity to be like us. Women all have it so hard. Our, our lived experience is so much harder than anything else, and it's baked in, baked in. Is this going to be like the new catchphrase now? Like, oh, my lived experience, it's just baked into who I am. Stop.

Speaker 3: 1:01:08

And, by the way, since when is it wrong or bad to acknowledge if a doctor is male or female? That is what you are. If you are female and you're a doctor, you are a female doctor. That's not an insult, it's not a slur, it's not a knock against who you are. Or what you bring Maybe to somebody is maybe somebody, some guy, some crotchety old guy is like hey, sweetheart, I'd rather have a male doctor. You know not you a little bit. So what? Give them a male doctor, it's not your problem. Move on with your life and go treat somebody else. That's my rant.

Speaker 4: 1:01:44

So you hit on something that is supremely important, and that is they want to whitewash the fact that someone is a woman. Right, this goes back to the transgender, the athletes, the men and women, all of those things, all those arguments that they're trying to, you know, eliminate by taking that designator out of the conversation is another way to you know. It's not breeding equality, folks. I hate to break it to you, but it goes back to our last topic, which is this is exactly the stuff that her husband is talking about. Right, whining and complaining, right, toughen up a little bit and you know, and that's, you know, that's how you stop losing everything. But you know his wife, you know you can.

Speaker 4: 1:02:33

I don't care about the rumors. You know the difference of opinion between the two of them and the potential rocky marriage crap that's going on. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't care, I really don't care. But I will tell you, the only thing that would make that entire table funnier and dumber than it already was is if they put Meghan Markle in there and suck her at that table, and that would be a whole different level of you know. Feel sorry for us because our life is so challenging, because she is the reigning queen right now in absurdity when it comes to it.

Speaker 3: 1:03:06

Yes, oh, my goodness, all right guys Weigh in on all of it. Thank you all for watching and allowing me the space Right. Thank you for saving what is the newest, it's all baked in. Yeah, it's all baked in. It's all baked in that I needed the space to feel comfortable to share my feelings, whatever. Anyhow, it's all baked in that. You know I needed the space to feel comfortable to share my feelings, whatever. Anyhow, it's all good. Guys, like I said, weigh in on the comments.

Speaker 4: 1:03:30

Clay, you close them out. Folks, as always, we appreciate you popping in and you know Elsa and I are involved in a lot of stuff and we're super, super busy, but we love taking this hour every week to spend it with you all. And until next time from me, keep moving, keep shooting.

Speaker 1: 1:03:43

Take care, guys. Prepare for the re-release of Clay's electrifying novel Keep Moving, keep Shooting. This is book one in his gripping Terry Davis series. Experience an edge-of-your-seat thriller that will leave you breathless. Get your copy of this highly anticipated re-release. It drops July 4th. Don't miss it. She's the voice behind the viral comedy, bald commentary and truth-packed interviews that cut through the chaos. Author, brand creator, proud conservative Christian. This is Elsa Kurt. Welcome to the show that always brings bold faith, real truth and no apologies.