We're making a determination now. Do we go to Chicago or do we go to a place like New Orleans where we have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in? President Donald Trump has been threatening to send in National [00:00:15] Guard troops to Chicago for some time. But on Wednesday of this week, he kind of changed his tune a little bit. He seemed to back off of the idea. Now, that same day, though, friend of the show, Ken Klippenstein, reported something that you should all read the entirety of over at Substack. [00:00:31] It's titled exclusive leak confirms Chicago military action memo reveals homeland crackdown has already begun. So Ken obtained a memo labeled for official use only that calls for the military to assist with upcoming Ice operations in Chicago, [00:00:51] although it doesn't explicitly mention the Illinois National Guard. So Klippenstein writes that the document requests immediate Department of Defense support for ISIS enforcement and removal operations. Ero activities to address public safety and national security. [00:01:10] The request specifically seeks to support infrastructure including highway access, fuel, and other logistical nodes. The memo goes on to cite several of President Trump's executive orders and declarations, casting southern border immigration as an invasion and a national emergency, [00:01:30] which, if you guys can remember, we covered this week. You know, a conservative appeals court just declared that it's unlawful when Trump cites, you know, an invasion and a national emergency in order to deploy federal troops or federal agents. [00:01:46] Now, here's a direct quote from the memo. DHS seeks to expeditiously execute presidential guidance to protect the American people against invasion foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats, and can also writes, per an anonymous source. [00:02:03] Customs and Border Patrol will also be looped into this, you know, Chicago stunt or stunt. The memo states that operations will last for 30 days and begin on September 2nd, which clearly that date has already come and gone. [00:02:21] And that same day, the deputy director of public affairs for the Illinois National Guard spoke to Axios and said no units have been activated and we do not have an order or preparatory command for any mission. Now, according to Ken Klippenstein, National Guard Service members [00:02:40] regard the mission as Trump Theater and a stain a stain on the mission and reputation of the military. It's not that they don't believe in responding to a crisis. They just don't see one. [00:02:55] And that was pretty clear in what the National Guard troops were up to in places like LA, and in some cases, D.C. As well. Like you see, videos of them can like picking up trash, which is great. Like I don't have a problem with them picking up trash, but that's not what they're supposed to do with their time. [00:03:12] So I want to kind of get your thoughts on what's really going on here. You know, you have Trump saying one thing publicly, but then privately and through this memo, we're learning that there's already been some action taken in Chicago. So what's really going on here? Yeah, I think key here is his use of the phrase repeatedly national security. [00:03:29] Trump and his administration are trying to turn immigration as an issue issue, which is an issue and people are genuinely divided on. If you look at the polling and he's trying to elevate that to a national security issue, he's trying to turn it into essentially nine over 11 and say, [00:03:45] both publicly and behind the scenes to the intelligence community, which responds by giving him, a menu of options to, to to respond to these things, both public and secretly. They're going to he's going to them with the case that, the, [00:04:03] migration through the southern border constitutes an invasion of the United States on the basis of the argument that they're bringing in drugs. And he points to fentanyl and the, you know, obviously horrific death count associated with that. But he's using that to say, well, what's the difference at this point? [00:04:20] If we have a body count similar to what you might have seen in Vietnam, for instance, and a formal war. And so I think it's that second step that, hasn't really been openly discussed, debated. And I think if it was, people would have very different feelings about it than they do about immigration as an issue in itself, because not only has he given, [00:04:41] you know, ISIS flush with cash now, after the budget that they passed a record budget more than, I think 2 or 3 times as much money as they previously had for what's called Ero enforcement and removal operations. So they have all this cash. What do you need the military for? We just gave you this massive, budget to, [00:04:59] to to, finance Federal law enforcement. What? So what is the purpose of the military? And one of the most striking parts of reporting on this is talking to the guardsmen, which nobody does in the press. I don't know if they're not high enough ranking. They like to talk to, senior executives. [00:05:15] But when you talk to them, it's not even political. They're just like, there's no reason for us here. This is not a this is a law enforcement matter. And that's a very basic constitutional question, as we saw in California, where it was deemed in violation of posse comitatus, [00:05:31] not something you like to hear the National Guard deployment to Los Angeles. That's what's at issue here. And it's really not a political question, at least when I the Guardsmen that I talk to, it's not primarily Partizan. It's just saying this isn't what we do. This is what we have federal law enforcement for. [00:05:47] And they have a heck of a lot more money than they did a year ago. Yeah. So what the hell is going on here? Right? Because first of all, let me just say I am very happy that you speak to members of the National Guard, and I'm even happier that many of them don't want to do this. They see this as a huge problem. They don't want to be deployed. [00:06:05] In the case of, you know, Chicago, Trump changes the story, right? Like he'll talk about how, oh, there's an invasion at the border, which kind of undercuts one of the things he's been successful in in regard to the southern border, which is a lot of people are trying to cross the southern border [00:06:23] right now under his administration. So then he'll kind of switch over to it's the crime. I'm worried about the crime. And that's why I want to, you know, send in the National Guard. But that means that you're essentially pitting, you know, [00:06:38] troops against the American people. And in order to do that, I mean, you really need to have some extraordinary circumstances that would justify that. And luckily, even a conservative appeals court pushed back on Trump in, like, shot down the idea that he could declare a national emergency to justify, you know, [00:06:58] sending in National Guard troops, in response to so-called crime and, you know, some of these blue cities and, you know, to your point about immigration. I do take the crime issue seriously. And there are a lot of Americans who are concerned about crime [00:07:13] in some of these big cities. But I don't believe for a second that Trump is doing this because he wants to fight crime. I think that's the cover story. And then at the same time, you have all these resources pumped into Border Patrol, customs, all of that. [00:07:29] But Trump is also diverting local police in this like theater that he's engaging in in liberal cities. I hate scams, especially the ones that target seniors, and Medicare is chock full of them. Between commission hungry brokers and thousands of confusing plan options, most [00:07:46] seniors aren't on the best plan for them. That's why I partnered with chapter. They're fully independent and they work for you, not the insurance companies. That's really important. They can review all your options in under 20 minutes, and the average senior they help saves over $1,100 a year. And the best part of it is it doesn't cost you a thing. [00:08:02] So if you're turning 65, call the number on the screen to connect with a chapter advisor today. And so it's kind of hard to keep track of everything that's going on because he says different things at different times. He uses different excuses depending on the day of the week who he's talking to. [00:08:18] But I want to know if I'm getting something wrong here. Like when I refer to Trump's actions as, like, more of the kayfabe presidency, am I right? Or is there really an issue in these cities? Cities like Chicago that would justify sending in National Guard troops? [00:08:37] Well, I'm kind of of two minds in this view because, you know, are the troops going to come out and just declare martial law and start arresting people? No, that's not what we're looking at here. But at the same time, the effect of having troops stationed, even if the troops don't support it, and many of them think it's ridiculous, [00:08:53] that is corrosive to liberal society and the view that the military shouldn't be involved in domestic civil affairs unless there is, like you said, an extraordinary reason and emergency for them to be able to respond to that. Just acculturating people to think it's acceptable for this to be like [00:09:10] the Egyptian junta just marching around. That's also not good. So I don't take the sort of maximalist warning that the coup is coming and all this business, but it's still not good. And so I take a sort of third position, which is, this is harmful to democratic culture. [00:09:28] It should be opposed on those grounds, even if they're just sitting around and picking up trash, as you point out, which is absolutely true. And, you know, I was talking to one service member who said, I will desert if they tell me to, use my weapon on fellow citizens. [00:09:43] Oh, I love that. And I think that's a wide I think that's probably a pretty common view, so I don't want to be hysterical about it. And, and if you are, you know, that's exactly what Trump wants, because then he can say, oh, look how reasonable I am. And these crazies responding to me. [00:09:59] But I do want to say that there's, you know, grounds to look at this stuff and say, we shouldn't have guys marching around that are in the military, even if what they're doing is innocuous. So it's both theater and it's dangerous I think. I, I totally agree with you. And again please check out Ken's reporting over at Substack [00:10:17] because he doesn't get hysterical. He does good reporting. And I think you're right. Trump really thrives when the left freaks out over him. He wants to trigger you. He wants to see a rise out of the left. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take what he's doing seriously or as a threat, [00:10:36] but you got to be a little more strategic and tactical in how you respond to Trump, because it also kind of rallies more support among his base when the libs are getting owned or whatever, you know what I'm saying? So I kind of learned from that in his first term, [00:10:53] and I try to be as level headed in responding to what he's doing as possible. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.