0:09

All right, Shell, welcome to the Scott

0:12

Horton Show. I'm the Director of

0:14

the Libertarian Institute, Editorial Director of

0:16

Anti-War.com, author of the book, Fools

0:18

Aaron, Time to End the War

0:21

in Afghanistan, and the brand new,

0:23

Enough Already, Time to End the

0:25

War on Terrorism. And I've recorded

0:28

more than 5,500 interviews since 2003,

0:30

almost all on foreign policy, and

0:32

all available for you at Scott

0:34

Horton.org. You can sign up the

0:37

podcast feed there. and the full

0:39

interview archive is also

0:41

available at YouTube.com/stop

0:43

Horton Show. All right you guys on

0:46

the line I've got the great Dan

0:48

McKnight he is the leader of bring

0:50

our troops home dot US and of

0:52

the defend the guard movement which

0:55

is a gigantic and important

0:57

thing maybe the most important

0:59

thing in the whole world

1:01

going on right now based out of

1:03

defend the guard dot US. Welcome back

1:06

to the show how you doing. Good

1:08

Scott, things are going to be back on and things

1:10

like that, incredible intro. Well, I'm allowed to live up

1:12

to. Yeah, you're doing great. Listen, tell me all about

1:14

how great you're doing. I want to hear, wait, first

1:16

of all, tell us, what's the Defend the Guard Act?

1:18

And then tell us how great you're doing. Yeah, Defend

1:20

the Guard Act, piece of state-based legislation,

1:23

because we can't trust the federal government, it tells

1:25

the states that they passed the bill that they

1:27

get for one brief moment in time, that they

1:29

get for one brief moment in time,

1:31

to stop their National Guard from being

1:33

deployed into federal service if the purpose

1:35

is to go overseas and fighting combat

1:37

that hasn't been declared by Congress. And

1:40

preaching to the choir, there's no one

1:42

listening to your show that doesn't know

1:44

this. Congress hasn't done that since 1942.

1:46

Congress hasn't done that since 1942. And

1:49

so it gives you the governor the

1:51

authority to say, the National. He gets

1:53

to stay home until you have a proper

1:55

authorization. And we've got the bill now

1:57

in over 30 states this year this

1:59

year this year. Rogers. We've had great

2:01

victories in the Virginia House of

2:03

Delegates with a unanimous 99 to

2:05

0 vote. We've passed the Idaho

2:07

Senate, the New Hampshire House. Keep battleground

2:10

victories in Montana and South

2:12

Dakota. We're growing. The movement

2:14

is on fire and I think we're at

2:16

the point now where the war machine knows

2:19

exactly who we are and they've got

2:21

us in their crosshairs instead of the

2:23

poor people in Hamas or Eastern Europe

2:25

or the Horn of Africa. They're

2:28

looking at us now. So tell me, what

2:30

do you and your friends at bring our

2:32

troops home dot US know about war? Well,

2:34

what you should ask, bring our troops

2:36

home was founded by me, a veteran

2:39

of the global war on terror, and

2:41

our entire membership is extended

2:43

to all veterans of the global war

2:45

on terror. And on our mail list, when

2:48

people sign up for to get

2:50

information from us, we ask them if

2:52

they're a veteran, and we're over 90% of

2:54

our membership, people that we

2:56

communicate with daily. that are veterans

2:59

of the global war and terror.

3:01

So when they sit down in front

3:03

of their state legislators or

3:05

their congressman and they say,

3:07

this war is ridiculous, they've

3:09

got skin in the game

3:11

and they're not able to

3:13

just put the arm around

3:16

them and thank the troops and

3:18

excuse about their office, they

3:20

have to listen because, well, God

3:22

day we know, we've been there.

3:24

Yeah, well, what do you know

3:26

about the Constitution? And I took that serious.

3:28

I made that oath with the promise that

3:30

I would pay with the value of my life.

3:33

And so when you do that, you have

3:35

a tendency to maybe read and study a

3:37

little bit. And I'm not so altruistic

3:39

as not to not say that the

3:41

Constitution should be changed over time. That's

3:43

we have a process for that. But

3:45

I think that the parts that exist

3:47

that have been enshrined should be

3:50

followed completely. And Congress has the

3:52

sole authority to declare war. And

3:54

they've been too chicken to do it for over

3:56

80 years. And so we're using the best level

3:58

of power we have, the most power. amendment in

4:01

the Constitution, the Tenth Amendment, and

4:03

allowing the states to interpose and

4:05

instead of this roadblock, this check,

4:07

this quality control system between their

4:10

own militia, their own National Guard,

4:12

in an overreaching federal government.

4:14

All right. Now, there's so many

4:16

different questions here that I'd like to

4:18

ask you about. We're going to get

4:20

back to the progress you're making because

4:22

it's so important. But so if

4:24

I was a devil's advocate, I would say that

4:27

this is some kind of subversive thing. And

4:29

what do you How could you think that

4:31

you could make the states go

4:33

so far as to obstruct the

4:35

national government when they need to

4:37

conduct our foreign policy and keep us

4:40

all safe and things like that?

4:42

You know, if you look at

4:44

our membership, we are not the

4:46

post-Vietnam hate Ashbury, you know, counterculture

4:48

hippies from the 70s. That's not

4:51

us. Most of us maintain our

4:53

military standards. We're still, you know,

4:55

military haircuts reasonably fit. We still

4:58

keep... qualifications on our weapon systems and

5:00

we would be the first ones that

5:02

would show up for an actual invasion

5:04

or attack on our homeland. The threat

5:06

or the the argument that this is

5:09

a subversive tactic to keep America is

5:11

in isolation of state and not involved

5:13

in in necessary wars of defense

5:15

is ridiculous because this bill does

5:17

nothing. Not one thing to stop any of

5:19

the authorized purposes of the National

5:21

Guard or the authority of the

5:24

president at all. But what it does is

5:26

realign those authorities. The president does not

5:28

have the authority to take the National

5:30

Guard and go fight a war in Sudan.

5:32

He doesn't have that authority. But there's a

5:34

small little loophole in federal code. It's

5:37

found in Title 10 and I can

5:39

nerd out and tell anybody that really

5:41

wants to know the details about it.

5:43

But there's a loophole that allows the

5:45

president to do that because Congress hasn't done

5:47

their job. And this bill is just

5:49

an attempt to close that loophole. And

5:51

we believe firmly. that if there's an

5:53

issue so important a threat so grave to

5:55

the United States that we're willing to commit

5:58

blood of our sons and daughters and into

6:00

some faraway land because it's so

6:02

important to America, then Congress should

6:04

declare it and then the National Guard

6:06

should go fight and win America's wars.

6:09

That's their job, but it's also our

6:11

job is the civilians in control

6:13

of the military to ensure that

6:15

they're not taken into undeclared unauthorized

6:17

purposes. It's a very delicate system of

6:20

checks and balances. And I think that's

6:22

so important because it's not like

6:24

you're asking Congress to just data

6:26

I or cross a T. You're asking them

6:28

these state legislators. to take, and

6:30

then governors, to take a very

6:33

big step against American

6:35

militarism. But your argument

6:37

is that essentially the

6:40

government itself now, the

6:42

national government, is outside

6:44

of the law. And you're asking

6:46

these state governors, state governments,

6:49

to close the loophole

6:51

in the law that's allowed them to

6:53

get away this far, and you're

6:56

using the constitutional system

6:58

to do it. And so it's

7:00

certainly an interesting take, but

7:02

it's something that is hard for them

7:05

to balance, I guess, the idea in their

7:07

mind, because you are asking them

7:09

to do something that is pretty

7:11

severe, even if that only means

7:13

just enforcing the law, right? Absolutely.

7:15

And it's important to remember,

7:18

and this I spent most

7:20

of my time with state

7:22

legislators exploiting this. The states

7:24

created the federal government. It's not

7:26

the other way around. We're not

7:28

beholden to them. When they come into

7:30

our states and try and bribe us a

7:32

coercion, or use coercion to force us to

7:35

do something that's their will, that is

7:37

not in alignment with the Constitution

7:39

or federal law, the states don't have

7:41

the right to it interposed. They have the

7:43

duty. If you have an unruly child, it

7:45

is your job. Your job to get them

7:48

back in mind, not societies. And so the

7:50

state governments have way more power than they

7:52

know, but they're... Most of our part-time legislators that

7:54

are being led around by the nose by the

7:56

executive branch in their own state who is being

7:59

led around by the threat of federal dollars.

8:01

And at some point, America's just got

8:03

to stand up and stop being okay

8:05

with being bribed with our own damn

8:07

tax money. We've paid that money. The

8:09

goods and services that we're entitled to is

8:11

defense of a nation and a guarantee

8:14

of a Republican form of government,

8:16

both of them. And taking our sons and

8:18

daughters to go fight into cocoa wars in

8:20

the Congo doesn't seem to align with

8:22

either one of those Republican form of

8:25

government or a national defense. And

8:27

so we want the states to just

8:29

flex. And the only way we're going

8:31

to get this big swampy mess under

8:33

control, the blob, is for the states to

8:35

strip away one bit of their power, one

8:37

bit of their ability to violate the law

8:39

at will and take it away in force

8:42

standards. But again, like we say, if there's

8:44

a war that needs to be fought, the

8:46

natural guard should be the force that goes

8:48

and does it. The founding father is really

8:50

deliberated over this issue more than

8:53

anything else. Was the ability to change the

8:55

state of our nation from one of peace

8:57

to one of war? They didn't want

8:59

the executive and the federal

9:01

government to have that authority. They

9:03

didn't really want Congress to have that

9:05

authority, but that's where they settled. They

9:08

wanted that authority to be in the

9:10

States with the people because they spread

9:12

the gunpowder around and they only authorized

9:14

a militia. They didn't even authorize a

9:17

standing army. They didn't even authorize a

9:19

standing army. They didn't even authorize a

9:21

standing army. They didn't even authorize the

9:24

president's ability to respond to threats, threats

9:26

that he deems, threats that he. But

9:28

whether that's legal or not, not

9:30

my argument today, my argument is

9:32

he shouldn't be doing it with

9:35

the men and women from Montana.

9:37

He should be using the people

9:39

at his disposal, the federal military,

9:41

and we'll fight that war after,

9:43

or that fight in the courts

9:45

after we finish fighting this one.

9:47

We've got to realign principles.

9:50

We've got to take away half

9:52

of his fighting force and put it

9:54

back where it belongs and the power

9:56

of the people. in essence by authorizing

9:58

the president to decide. does Congress

10:00

want to do or just ignoring

10:03

it and letting the

10:05

president do whatever he wants?

10:07

It's still their authority that

10:09

Congresses and so in essence the

10:12

buck stops with them either way even

10:14

if they pass it and so they're

10:16

the ones asking people to not

10:19

just kill people but also risk

10:21

being killed in horrible ways to

10:23

do these things. Doesn't

10:25

seem like too much to ask for

10:27

them to just obey the Constitution and

10:30

vote for it They're not putting themselves

10:32

at risk at all in that

10:34

sense other than for their upcoming

10:36

re-election campaign Yeah, and you know the

10:38

great Ron Paul in Congress in 2002 when

10:40

we were being lied into the Iraq war

10:43

He had the stones to go to the to

10:45

the floor of the Congress and say hey if

10:47

we're going to go to war in with Iraq.

10:49

Here is a declaration of war resolution. I

10:51

will present it My name will be on

10:53

it. I will be the first to vote

10:55

against it. But this is what we need to do.

10:58

And they laughed him out of the room. They laughed

11:00

him out of the room because not another

11:02

member of that 435 person body wanted

11:04

to go back to their districts and

11:06

explain why they voted to send their

11:08

sons and daughters into a war that

11:10

everybody knew. Anybody with a brain knew it was

11:12

a lie. And so they they plunked it. They told

11:14

the president, sir, you go ahead and

11:16

decide. You make that decision and we'll

11:19

fund it. We'll give you a blank

11:21

check and we'll allow you to prosecute

11:23

that war anywhere you want for any

11:25

length of time, anywhere in the world,

11:27

for any reason that you deem necessary

11:29

and we'll just be here like a

11:31

cuck and write the check. And that's

11:33

what Congress has turned into. There's an

11:36

innocent bystander and I use innocent loosely,

11:38

just allowing their authority that we've

11:40

given to them to be eroded over time.

11:42

We gave them very, very clearly defined powers

11:44

from the people from the people. And those

11:47

seems to be the things that they just

11:49

don't do. And there's only one way to get

11:51

a realign, there's two ways, but one would

11:53

get us booted off the radio and it

11:55

involves pitch forks and torches. But the other

11:57

way is to use our lever of power.

12:00

Our lever of power is with our

12:02

state representatives. I see them when I

12:04

go to the grocery store, when we

12:07

go to church, when you drop your

12:09

kids off at school, they're our neighbors.

12:11

They represent 7,000 to 15,000 people. And

12:13

so our lever of influence with them

12:15

is infinitely more powerful than it is

12:18

with some congressman that represents more powerful

12:20

than it is with some congressman

12:22

that represents 50,000 or 500,000, I

12:24

think we lived where we stand.

12:26

We fight from the best ground,

12:28

best advantage we have. Yeah, I

12:30

think it's such a wise strategy

12:32

and hey, that's why it's federalism.

12:35

It's supposed to be this

12:37

way. It's exactly how politics

12:40

is supposed to work and the

12:42

fact that you guys are invoking

12:44

the Tenth Amendment and

12:46

You know the framers and their intent

12:48

in in your own oaths is I

12:51

think the bonus seeing all

12:53

these bills being introduced

12:55

by Republicans across the

12:57

country is a really important

12:59

milestone in American history.

13:01

Really, it's undeniable. It's a huge

13:04

shift. Oh, and by the way,

13:06

I was going to say, man, I

13:08

wish I still had that video, and

13:10

I looked on C-SPAN before. Maybe

13:12

someone can find that. It's

13:14

from, would have been October of

13:17

2002, when they're voting on the

13:19

resolution for Rock War II. And

13:21

just as you say, so correctly there,

13:24

maybe you have the video. It's

13:26

on the Foreign Affairs Committee when

13:28

Ron Paul introduced the Declaration of

13:30

War and then gave a short

13:33

speech explaining why he was going

13:35

to vote against it, but why

13:37

he was challenging the rest of

13:39

them to vote for it since they loved

13:41

war so much. And the chairman

13:44

of the committee, Henry Hyde, told

13:46

Dr. Paul, well, you know, that part

13:48

of the Constitution isn't anachronism.

13:51

We don't go by that

13:53

anymore. He said. Scott, we had that exact

13:55

same thing happen in the committee hearing in,

13:57

let me think for a second, might have

13:59

been. South Dakota this year, we're in

14:01

general. It was Arizona, excuse me,

14:04

a general, the agent general of

14:06

the Arizona National Guard, when asked

14:08

about what authority we have to be

14:10

fighting in Syria right now, he said,

14:12

you all are waiting for Congress to

14:14

declare war. That ain't gonna happen

14:17

anymore. And he just passed it

14:19

off as if that is justification

14:21

for everything else that we do after

14:23

that. And in Montana House. I mean,

14:25

talk about. It's not even circular reasoning,

14:28

it's square reasoning or something. The guy

14:30

is just, that's why we're here, dude.

14:32

We're trying to force them to take

14:34

that responsibility. Welcome to the conversation, Lieutenant

14:37

General. If you could just have one second

14:39

to respond in real time to their statements,

14:41

you know, I would have said just that.

14:43

I'm like, and that's why we're here, sir.

14:45

And the arguments go downhill from

14:47

there from the from the opponents of the

14:49

bill. On the floor of the Montana House

14:52

yesterday, Somebody had the audacity to

14:54

stand up and say if we pass

14:56

this bill, he will create the next

14:58

Holocaust. Scott, you can't make it up.

15:01

Really? It's almost like he couldn't he

15:03

couldn't bundle enough things together in one

15:05

sentence. I'm surprised he didn't say, you

15:08

know, 9-11, Holocaust, Hamas, Israel, and just

15:10

push it all together in one sentence

15:12

and everybody stand up in chairs and

15:15

waves or Ukrainian flag. I mean, that's

15:17

that's what he was trying to do

15:19

is the biggest dog whistlele. Pretty

15:21

solid. They argued money. Oh, we're going

15:23

to lose federal funds. But once we've disproved

15:26

all that bull crap and we've, you know,

15:28

reminded them that they didn't swear an oath

15:30

to federal subsidies, now they're starting

15:32

to come back with the emotional

15:34

stuff. We're in Syria to protect

15:37

Israel. Now they're starting to come

15:39

back with the emotional stuff. We're in

15:41

Syria to protect Israel. We're in Syria

15:43

with American boys firing American bullets and

15:45

American dollars. You know, they don't talk

15:48

about that kind of that we're fighting

15:50

al- They want to talk about, you know,

15:52

whatever dog whistle the day. Hey guys, I've had

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slash coffee. Seriously,

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buy some. And thanks. Yeah,

17:38

well, so, I guess a two-part

17:40

question. First of all,

17:42

tell us about your interview

17:44

with the new Secretary

17:47

of Defense and what he had to

17:49

say about this and or... elaborate on

17:51

what he has had to say about

17:53

this since being sworn in or whether

17:56

you're still in contact with him and

17:58

whether these military officers officers

18:00

are out of line when they contradict

18:02

you and your guys at these state

18:04

committee and other hearings that you guys

18:06

are doing in the state houses and

18:08

sentence of America here. As I saw

18:10

them do I showed up at a

18:12

couple of these in South Dakota and

18:14

I think Kansas a few weeks ago

18:16

and I saw these guys myself out

18:18

there seemed to me like quite possibly

18:20

they're insubordinate so if you could please

18:22

elaborate about that. And then also just

18:24

spend the rest of the seven minutes

18:26

we got here, if you could, telling

18:28

us about the progress that you're making

18:30

in the various states. I know you

18:32

had a big victory just yesterday, was

18:34

it in or the day before in

18:36

Arizona? Arizona yesterday. Yeah. So on a

18:38

PXA, I think, we'll angle last January.

18:40

while he was a news personality on

18:42

Fox and Friends. I've been reminded of

18:44

this by the generals over and over.

18:47

Yes, I get it. He was a

18:49

news personality. He talked about defend the

18:51

guard after the New Hampshire House passed

18:53

it, and he says, I love this

18:55

idea. And he went into pretty at

18:57

length details explaining why that it's constitutional,

18:59

the National Guard is being used inappropriately

19:01

of defend the guard. That's the last

19:03

statement on record. But in December, after

19:05

he been nominated. I met with him

19:07

in West Palma at a private dinner

19:09

meeting and had a chance to talk

19:11

to him again and asked him about

19:13

his support for a dependent guard again

19:15

and he reiterated, I love that bill,

19:17

what can I do to help? And

19:19

at the time, Pete was in danger

19:21

of not not being confirmed and so

19:23

we said, hey, let's circle back, let's

19:25

get you, there was my Gen Socki

19:27

reference, circle back, let's get you confirmed

19:29

and then we'll work on a public

19:31

statement and I'm shooting myself in the

19:33

foot because What has happened since that

19:35

time is he is now the Secretary

19:37

of Defense and the layers of protection

19:39

between him and me are infinitely greater.

19:41

And so we're working every channel we

19:43

can't we can't every time we start

19:45

to make progress. We get stonewalled by

19:47

something. He's out firing generals. He's down

19:49

on the border. He's doing this. He's

19:52

doing that. So we're working on it.

19:54

We're going to get it. It's just

19:56

a matter of time. But what happened

19:58

is some of our activists started using

20:00

that as an anchor for their argument.

20:02

Hey, the Secretary of Defense supports this.

20:04

And like Diego Rivera, our field director

20:06

says, that's like giving a cookie to

20:08

a mouse. You give them one, they

20:10

want more. Now that Pete has endorsed

20:12

it and has had no additional anything

20:14

set on the record from the last

20:16

statement, which means that that last statement

20:18

is the record. Now they want a

20:20

written letter to them personally on his

20:22

letterhead or they want you know an

20:24

F16 jet to fly overhead and leave

20:26

contrails that say yes I support defend

20:28

the guard they want some grand display

20:30

instead of using logic that the last

20:32

thing he said is the most current

20:34

thing on record so we love that

20:36

we have an endorsement we love that

20:38

we have a support but we are

20:40

not using that as the foundation for

20:42

our argument because it just creates more

20:44

want more demands from the deep state

20:46

from the swamp so. Yes, we love

20:48

the Pete's there. We love the Tulsi

20:50

Gabber, Vavek, R.F.K. Jr. Joe Kent. All

20:52

these high-level administration folks have endorsed, defend

20:54

the guard. But the most important endorsement

20:57

of defend the guard is the members

20:59

of the global war on terror, the

21:01

veterans that fought, the veterans that fought,

21:03

that fought, the veterans that fought, that

21:05

want this bill, and the founding fathers

21:07

that fought, that fought, that fought. That's

21:09

not at all a cheesy response, a

21:11

cheesy cheesy cheesy, is perfectly right. Because

21:13

he could change his mind about that

21:15

and that wouldn't make you guys wrong

21:17

one bit and we wouldn't want anyone

21:19

to misunderstand that. Exactly. And so then

21:21

the progress, you already mentioned some of

21:23

the wins we've had and we can

21:25

talk about those if you like, but

21:27

Scott I'd rather I want to talk

21:29

about something with you if you don't

21:31

mind. Do you mind if we talk

21:33

about the lever, the big sledgehammer you've

21:35

given me with provoked? Yeah, I mean

21:37

say what you want wait first list

21:39

me some states and what's going on

21:41

because I really want I know there

21:43

are a ton of anti-war vets in

21:45

the audience of this show who Probably

21:47

are looking for something anti-war to do

21:49

and someone to join up with in

21:51

the Ron Paulian spirit somebody that they

21:53

can believe in somebody like you. So

21:55

what a great parade for them to

21:57

get at the front of or at

21:59

the tail end of and help support

22:02

here. So how do they do that?

22:04

Yep. If you go to defend the

22:06

guard. US, that's defend the guard all

22:08

one word. US and click on your

22:10

state on the map that pops up.

22:12

Well, first thing we're going to ask

22:14

you to do is tongue in cheek,

22:16

enlist in our movement. There's little banner

22:18

you will ask you to sign up

22:20

and give us your email address and

22:22

your name and what state you're from.

22:24

When you do that, you become one

22:26

of our one of our army. But

22:28

then click on your state, you can

22:30

see what's happening in your state. For

22:32

instance, in Nebraska right now, we have

22:34

one of the first democratic sponsors of

22:36

the bill in the country this year.

22:38

Her name is Megan Hunt, very progressive

22:40

lefty that believes with us the same

22:42

on this issue. And you know, we've

22:44

been a political from the start. We

22:46

want Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Green Party with

22:48

everybody to come because this is an

22:50

issue we all should agree on. And

22:52

so she has a hearing for the

22:54

first time in Nebraska this Wednesday, the

22:56

12th, and it's going to be an

22:58

informational hearing that we do not have

23:00

the gunpowder to fight the battle in

23:02

Nebraska. So she's going in there bold

23:04

in front of the committee to educate

23:07

the committee, get the groundwork laid and

23:09

build for next year. What we're trying

23:11

to build now in Nebraska is an

23:13

army of people on the ground. So

23:15

if you live in Nebraska. Click the

23:17

state and there's a way for you

23:19

to contact us. Every other state, you

23:21

can click on it so you who's

23:23

sponsoring your bill, you can give them

23:25

support, but most importantly, if you go

23:27

to defend the guard dot US/phone bank,

23:29

and you give us 10 minutes a

23:31

week during legislative session, you will see

23:33

in real time how your voice can

23:35

flip votes in real time. We changed

23:37

votes daily using just a little bit

23:39

of veteran power and will on phone

23:41

banks, and we went from a, we

23:43

were down eight votes on a committee

23:45

on a committee. And we started phone

23:47

banking a week before and getting people

23:49

to call. And by the time the

23:51

committee hearing was on, we'd already with

23:53

the committee and we had a two

23:55

vote advantage and we won in committee.

23:57

We are applying grassroots pressure with the

23:59

voice of veterans telling state representatives relentlessly

24:01

that we don't want them to endorse

24:03

the bill, that we demand it and

24:05

we expect them to do their jobs.

24:07

And when they don't, we practice what

24:09

we preach. For instance, in Tennessee, one

24:12

of our co-sponsors, Rick Eldridge, Representative Rick

24:14

Eldridge, sponsored a bill for two years,

24:16

took advantage of all the benefits of

24:18

being a sponsor of our bill, veteran

24:20

support, things like that, and then in

24:22

committee, made the motion to kill the

24:24

bill and send it to a summer

24:26

study. That is a death sentence for

24:28

a bill. Our own co-sponsor. So what

24:30

we did, we've already recruited his replacement.

24:32

We have already started training the activists

24:34

that are going to be helping on

24:36

his campaign and we are educating. That's

24:38

my goal of my mission is to

24:40

educate his district on what he did.

24:42

What a cowardly move he made taking

24:44

advantage of the benefit and the support

24:46

of veterans and then turning his back

24:48

on them. So he knows that he

24:50

has the support of the veterans, but

24:52

the veterans don't know the same. So

24:54

we're going to educate everybody. He's gone.

24:56

Rick Eldridge is a dead man walking.

24:58

He doesn't even know it figuratively, he

25:00

doesn't even know it, figuratively, figuratively, figuratively.

25:02

and it passed with 83% support last

25:04

March, outperforming even Donald Trump. The number

25:06

of people that voted against it in

25:08

Texas was almost identical to the number

25:10

of people that voted for Nikki Haley,

25:12

coincidentally enough. We've got a battle in

25:14

Montana where it went to the floor,

25:17

back to committee, back to committee, and

25:19

in real time, we were able to

25:21

flip one single vote and get it

25:23

passed out of committee where before it

25:25

had killed, it had died. We just

25:27

had a great hearing in Oregon. We've

25:29

got one in Idaho coming up. Arizona

25:31

just passed the Senate. So what we're

25:33

getting as, over 30 states have opportunities

25:35

to fight. And next year, we're going

25:37

to try and be in all 50.

25:39

But to do that, we need an

25:41

army. We need volunteers. And I need

25:43

you to sign up at Bring Our

25:45

Troops Home. US and click on Join

25:47

Us and join the remnant. The remnant

25:49

is our group of supporters that chip

25:51

in 5, 10, 20 bucks a month

25:53

and help us fight this fight. I

25:55

do this all for free. That's my

25:57

own volunteer hobby. I've got two paid

25:59

staff members that organize ground troops and

26:01

one rights for us. The great libertarian

26:03

writer 100 Gerenzis is our communications director

26:05

and the great libertarian activist Diego Rivera

26:07

is our ground operations. And that's what

26:10

I would ask people to do. Two

26:12

things. Find in your state where you

26:14

can join the fight and then join the

26:16

movement and chip in a couple bucks. Okay,

26:18

now you can tell me how useful my

26:20

book is for a minute. All right. What

26:22

a great book. I mean, I'm sure you've already

26:24

had the praise. You see where you're out

26:26

on the charts. You see where you're out

26:29

on the charts. to the capital, to

26:31

the Senate office buildings for

26:33

the inauguration. And I wrote a letter from

26:35

me, the chairman of veterans

26:37

organization, bring our troops home, asking,

26:40

demanding, and giving specific

26:42

reasons why they should read the book, specifically

26:45

the sections on Ukraine war, gaining

26:47

back to 2014 and even earlier,

26:49

and understanding their history before they

26:52

commit billions more dollars and possibly

26:54

American lives to that mess over

26:56

there. And I went into every

26:58

single senator that sits on the

27:01

Senate Foreign Relations Committee thinking

27:03

that would be where the best lever

27:05

of power was and when in offices

27:07

like Mike Lee and Jim Rish and

27:10

and ran Paul and delivered of course

27:12

to warm receptions by most most of

27:14

the good people mild to lukewarm

27:16

receptions from people that are

27:18

kind of squishes outright hostile

27:21

reactions from offices like your

27:23

own Senator Jim Cornyn. And

27:25

then I went to the Democrats too

27:27

and received almost no attention whatsoever, just

27:29

put it on the desk and get

27:32

out of here. That was the reaction

27:34

for most of them. But every office

27:36

I wanted to, I told them this.

27:38

I go, this book is comprehensive

27:40

history on Ukraine, dating back

27:42

through Republican and Democratic

27:45

Presidents, administrations. Your Senator,

27:47

your Senator is specifically

27:50

referenced in this book, even if they

27:52

weren't. And now that would explain that

27:54

their actions. Their actions are specifically

27:56

referenced in this book. You might want to

27:58

know what's in here. and then gave the letter,

28:01

gave the book, all of them did the same thing.

28:03

Can we take a picture? Yeah, of course you can

28:05

take a picture. So I took pictures with them, the

28:07

ones that were there, and then moved on. And

28:09

then I didn't make it into all

28:11

of offices because Washington DC was shut

28:13

down for the inauguration. So the remaining

28:15

members that I didn't get to, I

28:17

went down to the UPS store and

28:19

overnighted copies of the book with the book with

28:21

a letter in them. And then each one of

28:24

them has gotten a follow-up letter from

28:26

me asking if they've read the book

28:28

and report back and let me

28:30

know what's happening with their with their

28:33

little history lesson. Guess how many

28:35

responses I've got? I'm sure hundreds, right?

28:37

Hundreds, hundreds of them, Scott. Yes, minus

28:39

hundreds. solid 100 guys, I'm sure. So

28:42

anyway, after reading the book and

28:44

just fully understanding for my own

28:46

edification, what we did to cause

28:48

the war in Ukraine. I don't know how

28:50

anybody can read the plain language in

28:52

your book. Clear, reference, source, cited,

28:54

and think, by God, we should be dumping

28:56

billions more dollars in here. Unless their

28:58

argument is, we cause this, we should

29:01

fix it. I would actually entertain and

29:03

listen to that argument. But to keep

29:05

the fight going, I'm not interested

29:07

in even entertaining their discussion.

29:09

Yeah. Even on the former, I mean, that was

29:11

part of the excuse for Iraq was,

29:14

well, we helped support Saddam Hussein Hussein,

29:16

so now we got a... No, now

29:18

you've got to just stop. Just stop.

29:20

Well, listen, I mean, I can't tell you

29:22

first of all how much I appreciate

29:24

what you say, but especially what you

29:27

do there. That's really great to hear

29:29

that you're, you know, not just

29:31

giving them the book, but following

29:33

up and all of that stuff,

29:35

it's really good. And thanks to

29:38

Hunter too for everything. Yeah, Hunter's

29:40

amazing. I'm glad you're keeping them

29:42

busy as well, and giving them

29:44

some extra stuff on the side

29:47

on the side because he's. Yeah,

29:49

well, he's our editor, so he

29:51

better not be going anywhere. We'll

29:54

be doomed. Our ship would sink

29:56

without his... Right. Well, listen, I

29:58

gotta tell you, I've so... appreciate

30:00

what you guys are doing. It's so

30:03

important in its own right, but

30:05

of course it also just sets

30:07

such a great example for

30:09

how anti-war activism can

30:12

be done and how respectable you

30:14

can make it and have

30:16

succeeded in making it. You know,

30:18

the whole MAGA movement is coming

30:20

to where we were on foreign

30:22

policy this whole time because

30:24

we were right this whole time. So

30:26

it only makes sense. So there

30:29

are. more and more. We

30:31

have real non-interventionist sympathies on

30:33

the right and we need to build on them

30:35

and I can't think of a better way

30:37

so I appreciate all your efforts and

30:39

for everybody listening who's interested

30:42

by all means please just

30:44

go to bring our troops home US

30:46

and defend the guard.us and sign up

30:48

with the guys here enjoying this thing

30:50

because you know I don't know man I've

30:52

been doing this a very long time I

30:55

always here. Yeah but what can you really

30:57

do? Hey, this is something that you

30:59

can do for real that is

31:01

truly making a difference and

31:03

as, you know, specific tasks

31:05

like showing up to testify

31:08

and support at your

31:10

local capital building in

31:12

your state where this stuff is

31:14

going on. So please get in

31:16

contact. It's the great

31:18

Dan McNite, Diego Rivera,

31:20

Hunter Doressis, and the rest

31:22

of guys at Bring Our Troops

31:25

Home. US. Thank you, Scott. The

31:27

Scott Horton show Anti-War

31:29

Radio can be heard

31:31

on KPFK 90.7 FM

31:33

in LA APS radio.com

31:36

Anti-War.com Scott Horton.org

31:39

and Libertarian Institute.org