President elect Donald Trump has chosen John Phelan, a megadonor, to his campaign, of course, to lead the military as the Secretary of the Navy. Now, you might be unfamiliar with him. I was unfamiliar with him. [00:00:16] And look, on the face of it, corruption bad. It seems like a favor to a megadonor, but it's only made worse by the fact that Trump's pick is a businessman and an art collector with literally zero military experience. [00:00:34] So he would be the Navy secretary when he hasn't served in the military at all and has no experience. Now, even Donald Trump's supporters are pissed about this, and I can't wait to get to some of their comments, which we will do a little later. But first, some more details. [00:00:50] So look, he's, it's not just that he's a businessman. He's a freaking private equity guy, okay? Which Trump mentioned in his Truth Social post Announcing Phelan as his appointee, he wrote that John has excelled in every endeavor, [00:01:08] from founding and leading Rugger Management LLC to co-founding MSD capital L.P., the private investment firm. For Michael Dell, CEO of CEO of Dell Technologies, his record of success speaks for itself. [00:01:24] A true champion of American enterprise and ingenuity. So why is he your pick for the Navy? Anyway? Well, look, while not all Navy secretaries previously served in the Navy, [00:01:41] many of them actually have. And so of the 26 men to be confirmed as Navy secretary over the past 70 years, all of them, except for six, have been veterans. And Phelan has no military credentials at all. He's literally just a financier and an art collector. [00:01:59] The only thing anyone can point to, according to The New Republic, is that Phelan is on the board of a nonprofit dedicated to supporting troops and diplomats worldwide. That's it. That's not military experience. That's not experience in managing an arm of our military. [00:02:15] And according to the Navy Times, if confirmed, felon would be the first permanent Navy secretary without military experience since 2009. Oh, so this has happened before. Oh, when Donald Winter finished up his three year term in the role. [00:02:33] So this was during the Bush administration. That was the last time the president had appointed a Navy Secretary who had absolutely no military experience whatsoever. And if you guys are old enough to remember, the Bush administration was a complete and utter garbage. [00:02:50] It totally discredited the neocons, much to my amusement and pleasure. But that's really what happened. Really smart for Kamala Harris to go around campaigning with neo cons, right? Anyway, unlike Winter, who previously had worked within the Pentagon and on Navy [00:03:07] contracts at major defense firms. Phelan has little public connection to the sea service. So that was more from the Navy times. And so why pick an inexperienced private equity guy to serve in such an important role? [00:03:23] You know, an important role like Navy secretary. Well, Phelan, an avid art collector, was a major donor to the president elect this election cycle and reportedly hosted Trump at his $38 million Aspen home. $38 [00:03:39] million Aspen home during the campaign. Couples paid upward of $500,000 to attend that fundraiser. But Phelan himself also donated heavily to Donald Trump, reportedly donated more [00:03:55] than $800,000 to Trump's joint fundraising committee in April. So, look, this is a note that I wish Trump got prior to appointing all these people that he clearly has appointed [00:04:10] for transactional reasons. Right? This is a person who held a fundraiser for Trump. This is a person who donated $800,000 to Trump's campaign. And so Trump's looking to do a favor for a favor. You know, you know how we do. You know how we do. Everyone every president does it. Okay. [00:04:25] But you should have appointed him for like, ambassador of Zimbabwe. I don't know, like one of those BS ambassador roles. That doesn't matter. Sorry to all the ambassadors out there who want to pretend like their roles are super important in the grand scheme of things. When you compare Navy Secretary to ambassador of an ally of ours that we [00:04:44] get along with and never have issues with. I mean, let's keep it real. Those roles, ambassadorships are totally fine, I don't care, but I do care when it comes to core positions within his administration, [00:04:59] that could have a real impact on this country, on national security, on the Navy. And I'm really happy to say that there has been some pushback already from avid Trump supporters. So I want to give you just a few examples. One person wrote this makes zero sense. None. [00:05:18] How is Trump naming a hedge fund guy as secretary of the Navy? What the hell? I'm a huge Trump supporter, but we need military commanders running military branches. Writer Jeanine. And by the way, I double checked to make sure these people all voted for Trump supported Trump. They're very vocal about it on their accounts. [00:05:35] Questioning the John Fallon pick, feels like rewarding a crony as he has no military experience. But if his focus is going to be on making sure that the supply chain is up to snuff so that the Navy can build the ships it needs, it may be okay. [00:05:53] I mean, Jeanine, I love that you're trying to keep your mind open, but the Navy ain't building the ships. Okay, we have contractors that we pay huge sums of money to, to build equipment, weapons, all that stuff that the Navy ends up using. No, this. You hit the nail on the head in the beginning of your tweet. [00:06:09] Feels like rewarding a crony as he has no military experience. And look, this is what Trump does. He is very transactional. But appoint him to a role that isn't as important. Important. Let's keep going. I do have a few more examples. I like this one because of the tweet and then some of the, responses. [00:06:29] So let's go to the last graphic here from Boris, who says, weird choice to nominate a person with no military experience to lead a branch of the military. And I was happy to see that others who are Trump supporters responded with, yep, just what I was thinking. Another person, conservative 86, is their handle, I agree. [00:06:47] One more. This is from another Trump supporter on X. As a Navy veteran, I don't understand this appointment. At least have military service. John Fallon appointment seems like a gift and it is a gift. [00:07:02] It is a gift. It is a favor for a favor. And look, the one thing that I do appreciate about some Trump supporters is that they are vocal about how disgusting they find corruption to be, which is why they've been supporting Trump. The guy who says that he wants to drain the swamp. [00:07:19] But the fact of the matter is he has, engaged in very similar practices as other politicians on both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. He has taken massive campaign contributions and has carried out favors for these donors. [00:07:35] Miriam Adelson, the Adelson in general is a great example. And so I don't think that these positions should be on sale or for sale. And it's become more and more jarring with some of Trump's appointments that that's what's going on here. [00:07:52] And so hopefully I don't think he should get confirmed. I have a real problem with someone like felon serving as the Secretary of the Navy. But we'll see what happens. I just wanted to give you guys the details on this pick and how problematic I find it to be. [00:08:09] Thanks for watching. If you become a member, you get to watch all this ad free. Except for, of course, this ad still hit the join button below.