WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.120 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. So today we're 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:05.860 looking at a stack of source material that feels 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:08.800 exceptionally charged. We're seeing this blend 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:11.480 of high stakes domestic tensions, some really 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:15.050 audacious geopolitical moves, and Well, some 00:00:15.050 --> 00:00:17.589 truly precarious political math playing out in 00:00:17.589 --> 00:00:20.010 Washington. It really is a charged environment. 00:00:20.289 --> 00:00:22.289 And what makes this deep dive so critical is 00:00:22.289 --> 00:00:25.250 just the sheer breadth of it all. Our mission 00:00:25.250 --> 00:00:27.570 here is to really pull out the essential insights, 00:00:27.670 --> 00:00:30.609 you know, to understand these completely contrasting 00:00:30.609 --> 00:00:33.310 stories and a high profile law enforcement killing 00:00:33.310 --> 00:00:36.950 to analyze the... frankly, very serious risk 00:00:36.950 --> 00:00:40.149 of a potential NATO collapse, and also to track 00:00:40.149 --> 00:00:43.170 this surprising citizen -led check on executive 00:00:43.170 --> 00:00:45.149 power that's popping up where you least expect 00:00:45.149 --> 00:00:47.210 it. That is an explosive mix. I mean, it touches 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:49.950 on violence, global ambition, the fragile math 00:00:49.950 --> 00:00:52.640 of political power. These sources seem to be 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:54.859 arguing that this whole moment is defined by 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:57.359 institutional stress, both here at home and abroad. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:59.740 Exactly. Every single report we have basically 00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:01.619 emphasizes that the guardrails are being tested, 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.219 all at once, on multiple fronts. OK, let's unpack 00:01:04.219 --> 00:01:06.040 this. Let's start with Minneapolis. It's a city 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:09.950 that, according to our sources, just seems tragically 00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:13.109 destined to be a flashpoint for these confrontations 00:01:13.109 --> 00:01:16.129 between federal authority and citizens. Yeah. 00:01:16.250 --> 00:01:18.609 And what's so fascinating here is the eerie way 00:01:18.609 --> 00:01:21.450 history seems to be rhyming. But with this really 00:01:21.450 --> 00:01:23.750 unsettling twist, we're only a few years out 00:01:23.750 --> 00:01:26.069 from the killing of George Floyd, which, after 00:01:26.069 --> 00:01:28.209 all that upheaval, led to a conviction for Derek 00:01:28.209 --> 00:01:31.200 Chauvin. Now, Minneapolis is again the site of 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:33.239 a high profile killing by law enforcement, but 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:35.439 all the variables are different, just completely 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:38.260 changed. The victim this time, Renee Nicole Good. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:41.040 And the analysis really emphasizes she was a 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:44.000 white woman, a U .S. citizen. And maybe the most 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.680 critical piece the agency involved wasn't local 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:49.480 police. It was federal Immigration and Customs 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:52.250 Enforcement, ICE. And right away, the response 00:01:52.250 --> 00:01:54.930 just fractured into two completely polarized, 00:01:55.230 --> 00:01:57.650 totally conflicting narratives. On one side, 00:01:57.769 --> 00:01:59.989 you have the Trump administration with DHS Secretary 00:01:59.989 --> 00:02:01.930 Kristi Noem and Donald Trump himself leading 00:02:01.930 --> 00:02:04.790 the charge. They claim Good was a professional 00:02:04.790 --> 00:02:08.289 agitator. And that she was stalking and impeding 00:02:08.289 --> 00:02:11.469 ICE -E. The president's post on social media 00:02:11.469 --> 00:02:14.069 just escalated that so dramatically, claiming 00:02:14.069 --> 00:02:17.710 she violently, willfully, and viciously ran over 00:02:17.710 --> 00:02:19.990 the ICE officer. And he added that the officer 00:02:19.990 --> 00:02:22.330 was recovering in the hospital. The whole narrative 00:02:22.330 --> 00:02:24.870 they're pushing is that her motivation was this 00:02:24.870 --> 00:02:27.469 radical left movement of violence and hate. But 00:02:27.469 --> 00:02:29.710 then you have the local Minnesota officials presenting 00:02:29.710 --> 00:02:32.680 a starkly different story. Senator Plobuchar, 00:02:32.979 --> 00:02:35.280 Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, they're all saying 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.360 that death is entirely the fault of ICE and the 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:40.479 administration's overreach. Yeah, and Representative 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:43.500 Ilhan Omar even suggested Good was probably a 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:45.840 civilian observer, you know, just monitoring 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:48.979 ICE as a form of nonviolent resistance. So all 00:02:48.979 --> 00:02:50.979 our source analysts drilled into this confusing 00:02:50.979 --> 00:02:53.849 30 -second video, and what you see is... Good 00:02:53.849 --> 00:02:57.110 in this. They describe it as a suburban mom minivan. 00:02:57.469 --> 00:02:59.830 It's at a right angle to three ICE vehicles. 00:02:59.930 --> 00:03:02.050 She reverses a little bit, seemingly to avoid 00:03:02.050 --> 00:03:05.090 contact, and then tries to flee. And this is 00:03:05.090 --> 00:03:07.610 the absolute crux of it. This is what dismantles 00:03:07.610 --> 00:03:09.849 the administration's claim that she ran over 00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:12.590 an officer. The video is clear. Agent number 00:03:12.590 --> 00:03:15.250 one behind the van and agent number three in 00:03:15.250 --> 00:03:18.030 front of it. They both get out of the way. Without 00:03:18.030 --> 00:03:20.150 difficulty. Without any difficulty at all. She 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:22.849 starts moving. She was clearly fleeing, not attacking. 00:03:23.310 --> 00:03:25.430 But then agent number three, the one who just 00:03:25.430 --> 00:03:28.490 stepped aside, he then fires several shots into 00:03:28.490 --> 00:03:31.469 the driver's side window at point -blank range. 00:03:31.969 --> 00:03:35.090 And the consensus in the sources is it's unequivocal. 00:03:35.629 --> 00:03:37.550 They say the circumstances did not even come 00:03:37.550 --> 00:03:40.090 close to justifying lethal force. Not even close. 00:03:40.189 --> 00:03:42.509 The force was completely disproportionate to... 00:03:42.590 --> 00:03:44.650 The threat, if you can even call it a threat. 00:03:45.370 --> 00:03:47.669 And that finding is what's driving this escalating 00:03:47.669 --> 00:03:50.189 political and legal fallout. Governor Walz has 00:03:50.189 --> 00:03:52.110 already ordered the Minnesota National Guard 00:03:52.110 --> 00:03:54.490 to prepare for deployment. To protect the citizens 00:03:54.490 --> 00:03:56.770 of Minnesota. Exactly. And that just raises the 00:03:56.770 --> 00:04:00.569 specter of an actual legal standoff. If Governor 00:04:00.569 --> 00:04:04.030 Walz activates the MNG to counter ICE, Trump 00:04:04.030 --> 00:04:06.370 could try to federalize the Guard. Which would 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:08.750 lead straight to a court battle over who's in 00:04:08.750 --> 00:04:12.259 command. And you have guard members stuck right 00:04:12.259 --> 00:04:14.800 in the middle facing charges, whether they follow 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.579 state orders or federal ones. Politically, it 00:04:17.579 --> 00:04:19.740 seems like a disaster for the administration's 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:22.560 message. Protests have started, sure, but the 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:25.120 key metric our sources point to is a GoFundMe 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:29.019 for Goods family. It raised nearly $400 ,000. 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:32.120 On the first day. On the first day. And the sources 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:34.879 believe this confirms the harshness of the administration's 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.160 policy, not just for undocumented immigrants, 00:04:37.399 --> 00:04:40.519 but now for a U .S. citizen. a mother, and that's 00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:42.540 going to hurt them with those crucial suburban 00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:44.800 voters who are worried about federal overreach. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:47.240 It's a powerful point. It shows how that aggression 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:49.740 at home can just completely backfire. Let's connect 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:52.959 that exact aggression to foreign policy, specifically 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.579 the incredibly, I guess, aggressive geopolitical 00:04:56.579 --> 00:04:58.839 stance we're seeing after the capture of Nicolas 00:04:58.839 --> 00:05:02.100 Maduro in Venezuela. Cocky is the word the sources 00:05:02.100 --> 00:05:04.279 are using. The administration feels emboldened, 00:05:04.300 --> 00:05:06.680 and now they're treating these incredibly risky 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:09.040 geopolitical moves like they're simple police 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:12.360 actions. And the focus is all on Greenland. Right. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.360 They're refusing to take the option of taking 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:17.500 Greenland by force off the table. They keep citing 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:21.139 the population, only 57 ,000 people. And the 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:24.660 rhetoric from people like Stephen Miller is just, 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:27.930 it's overt. He says, the real world. governed 00:05:27.930 --> 00:05:32.009 by strength, by force, by power. I mean, that's 00:05:32.009 --> 00:05:34.470 the language of 19th century imperialism. They're 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:37.269 just dusting it off. And that attitude carries 00:05:37.269 --> 00:05:39.910 this massive international risk. Greenland is 00:05:39.910 --> 00:05:41.730 associated with Denmark and a founding member 00:05:41.730 --> 00:05:44.670 of NATO, a founding member of NATO. So an invasion 00:05:44.670 --> 00:05:47.529 would trigger Article five, which means the end 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:50.389 of NATO, the definitive immediate collapse of 00:05:50.389 --> 00:05:53.389 NATO. The sources paint this absurd picture where 00:05:53.389 --> 00:05:55.310 the NATO secretary general would have to ask 00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:58.029 the U .S. to help defend a part of Denmark from 00:05:58.029 --> 00:05:59.990 an invasion by the United States. That's just 00:05:59.990 --> 00:06:02.069 that's not how Alliance works. And the threat 00:06:02.069 --> 00:06:04.050 is being taken seriously enough that we're already 00:06:04.050 --> 00:06:06.490 seeing some legislative pushback. Yeah. Senator 00:06:06.490 --> 00:06:09.129 Ruben Gallego, he introduced an amendment to 00:06:09.129 --> 00:06:11.449 the defense appropriations bill. Right, forbidding 00:06:11.449 --> 00:06:13.370 the use of government funds for an invasion of 00:06:13.370 --> 00:06:15.250 Greenland without getting congressional approval 00:06:15.250 --> 00:06:17.990 first. It's a direct check, even if it is a reactive 00:06:17.990 --> 00:06:20.430 one. The good news, though, is that there are 00:06:20.430 --> 00:06:23.389 some off -ramps being discussed. Secretary Marco 00:06:23.389 --> 00:06:25.529 Rubio is trying to lower the temperature a bit, 00:06:25.629 --> 00:06:27.509 suggesting the administration just wants to buy 00:06:27.509 --> 00:06:29.870 Greenland. Right, get back to a diplomatic frame. 00:06:30.170 --> 00:06:31.850 But there's a more sophisticated plan in the 00:06:31.850 --> 00:06:34.889 works, too, right? Involving more political maneuvering. 00:06:34.990 --> 00:06:37.089 Yeah. The U .S. could encourage Greenland to 00:06:37.089 --> 00:06:40.149 hold a referendum on independence. And once they're 00:06:40.149 --> 00:06:43.230 independent, offer them a compact of free association. 00:06:43.949 --> 00:06:47.209 That means protection, essential services, and 00:06:47.209 --> 00:06:51.410 U .S. military bases. It's partnership, not conquest. 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:54.509 And here's the clever geopolitical part. To get 00:06:54.509 --> 00:06:57.410 the E .U. on board, the U .S. could trade increased 00:06:57.410 --> 00:07:00.689 support for Ukraine. More weapons. More security 00:07:00.689 --> 00:07:03.870 guarantees. It's a cynical but, you know, effective 00:07:03.870 --> 00:07:06.850 transactional swap of global priorities. Greenland 00:07:06.850 --> 00:07:08.970 for more support for Kiev. And this all loops 00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:11.170 back to Venezuela. The administration keeps talking 00:07:11.170 --> 00:07:13.569 about oil, but our sources point out how that 00:07:13.569 --> 00:07:17.009 whole reserve story is. Well, it's inflated and 00:07:17.009 --> 00:07:18.829 it might be a distraction for a totally different 00:07:18.829 --> 00:07:20.930 financial play. I always hear that Venezuela 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:22.850 has the biggest reserves. Is that even true? 00:07:23.069 --> 00:07:25.389 That's the narrative, but the sources show it's 00:07:25.389 --> 00:07:27.550 actually a classic example of dictator hype. 00:07:28.209 --> 00:07:30.449 See, oil reserves isn't just what's in the ground, 00:07:30.810 --> 00:07:33.649 it's what you can economically extract profitably 00:07:33.649 --> 00:07:36.689 at today's prices. Ah, so the numbers tripled 00:07:36.689 --> 00:07:40.189 between 2007 and 2010, not because of a new discovery. 00:07:40.389 --> 00:07:42.870 But because Hugo Chávez just made up a new number, 00:07:43.430 --> 00:07:45.750 it was pure political theater to make his country 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:48.750 look more powerful. The oil isn't as easy to 00:07:48.750 --> 00:07:51.680 get as advertised. And there's a catch with the 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.360 type of oil, too. It's very heavy, needs special 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:56.360 refineries. And it's primarily sold to China. 00:07:56.699 --> 00:07:59.699 Okay, so connect the dots. Who owns the sophisticated 00:07:59.699 --> 00:08:02.240 refineries that can handle that heavy Venezuelan 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:05.399 crude? Trump mega donor Paul Singer. Yeah. Who's 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:08.079 given eight million dollars to Trump Paxes. The 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:10.759 military operation is fundamentally tied to a 00:08:10.759 --> 00:08:13.360 massive pre -planned financial payoff. So we're 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:15.660 talking about a scheme that looks less like high 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:18.879 level strategy and more like a high stakes taxpayer 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:21.990 funded gift to a major donor. The plan, as laid 00:08:21.990 --> 00:08:25.089 out, is to give these multi -billion dollar taxpayer 00:08:25.089 --> 00:08:28.110 funded contracts to extraction companies. They 00:08:28.110 --> 00:08:30.310 might then sell that subsidized oil cheaply to 00:08:30.310 --> 00:08:33.009 Singer, who then profits hugely from refining 00:08:33.009 --> 00:08:36.190 it. It's the ultimate crony capitalism just masked 00:08:36.190 --> 00:08:39.309 as national energy policy. And even if they pull 00:08:39.309 --> 00:08:41.889 it all off, the internal obstacles in Venezuela 00:08:41.889 --> 00:08:44.110 are still huge. They still have to deal with 00:08:44.110 --> 00:08:46.190 Diosdado Cabello, the head of the secret police, 00:08:46.289 --> 00:08:49.840 who is, well... He's powerful and highly untrustworthy. 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:52.500 OK, let's move from global finance back to domestic 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:55.139 politics and the sheer mathematical vulnerability 00:08:55.139 --> 00:08:57.700 in the House right now. Speaker Johnson is walking 00:08:57.700 --> 00:09:00.820 a political tightrope made of dental floss. It's 00:09:00.820 --> 00:09:02.799 unbelievably precarious. They've had several 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:05.500 recent unavoidable losses. Representative LaMalfa 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:08.240 died, Representative Green resigned, and Representative 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:10.909 Baird was injured and can't vote. So while the 00:09:10.909 --> 00:09:14.529 technical balance is 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats, 00:09:15.009 --> 00:09:17.490 the practical working lineup about early February 00:09:17.490 --> 00:09:20.210 is way tighter. Much tighter. Once a special 00:09:20.210 --> 00:09:22.409 election fills a heavily Democratic seat and 00:09:22.409 --> 00:09:24.429 you account for those absences, the de facto 00:09:24.429 --> 00:09:27.789 lineup is something like 216 Republicans to 214 00:09:27.789 --> 00:09:31.259 Democrats. A two vote margin. That means pretty 00:09:31.259 --> 00:09:33.919 much every single Republican member has veto 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:37.120 power. If Speaker Johnson loses just one Republican 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:39.759 vote, besides Thomas Massie, who already bucks 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:42.559 the party line, any bill fails. So is Johnson 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:44.980 just permanently hostage to his far right flank? 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:48.019 Does he know that any move could provoke a single 00:09:48.019 --> 00:09:51.220 defection and cost him his job or worse, cause 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:54.039 a government shutdown? That's exactly the implication. 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:56.539 Managing the February 1st government shutdown 00:09:56.539 --> 00:09:59.220 deadline and the huge internal GOP divisions 00:09:59.220 --> 00:10:02.299 over health care with zero room for error, it's 00:10:02.299 --> 00:10:04.980 politically exhausting and it basically incentivizes 00:10:04.980 --> 00:10:07.340 paralysis. Now contrast that vulnerability with 00:10:07.340 --> 00:10:09.559 a surprising new check on executive power that's 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:11.799 bubbling up from the ground. Grand juries are 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:13.580 getting grand again. This is a really remarkable 00:10:13.580 --> 00:10:15.820 development. We're all used to that legal saying 00:10:15.820 --> 00:10:17.919 that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.620 if a prosecutor asks for it. Right. But our sources 00:10:20.620 --> 00:10:23.039 are noting that in cases brought by the administration, 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:26.179 grand juries made up of everyday citizens are 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:30.360 now returning no true bill, no indictment because 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:32.440 the evidence is so weak. We're seeing this in 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:34.940 places like Chicago and Los Angeles. So this 00:10:34.940 --> 00:10:37.220 is the system working almost in spite of itself. 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:41.539 The sources attribute this to the obviously bogus 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:44.539 nature of some prosecutions and, to be frank, 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:46.899 the sheer incompetence of some of the U .S. attorney 00:10:46.899 --> 00:10:49.440 appointments. They name people like Alina Haba, 00:10:49.659 --> 00:10:52.120 Lindsay Halligan, Jeanine Pirro. It's like a 00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:54.980 quiet, citizen -led, constitutional rebellion. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.419 The grand jury, which was originally designed 00:10:57.419 --> 00:11:00.139 to protect people from unjust prosecution, is 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:02.320 suddenly flexing that muscle again because the 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:05.019 evidence being presented is just, it's so flimsy. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.919 On the other side of the aisle. Democratic strategists 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.360 are laser focused on the 2026 midterms. And their 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:14.320 advice is really clear. Avoid the noise. Stick 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:16.980 to the basics. The consensus advice is don't 00:11:16.980 --> 00:11:19.039 focus on Trump. Don't focus on Venezuela and 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:21.480 absolutely ban the I word impeachment from any 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:23.679 candidate's vocabulary. It just energizes the 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:25.899 Republican base. So instead, the focus has to 00:11:25.899 --> 00:11:28.019 be entirely on affordability and the economy. 00:11:28.419 --> 00:11:30.299 It's the ultimate it's still the economy stupid 00:11:30.299 --> 00:11:33.269 moment. Exactly. Candidates need to show voters 00:11:33.269 --> 00:11:36.429 tangible, concrete ways that Democrats will make 00:11:36.429 --> 00:11:38.450 their lives better. And when they do talk about 00:11:38.450 --> 00:11:40.350 the former president, it has to be through the 00:11:40.350 --> 00:11:43.409 lens of affordability. So blaming Trump's tariffs 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:45.870 for high prices. That's the approved message. 00:11:46.009 --> 00:11:49.149 Yeah. And then pivot to proposing these highly 00:11:49.149 --> 00:11:52.690 targeted tariff systems like a high tariff. on 00:11:52.690 --> 00:11:55.289 Chinese solar panels paired with a subsidy for 00:11:55.289 --> 00:11:58.090 American made panels. Right. Linking job creation 00:11:58.090 --> 00:12:01.049 directly to lower electricity costs, marrying 00:12:01.049 --> 00:12:03.289 national policy with the kitchen table budget. 00:12:03.950 --> 00:12:05.669 And Senator Elizabeth Warren is backing this 00:12:05.669 --> 00:12:08.450 up with real money right now, donating $400 ,000 00:12:08.450 --> 00:12:11.269 from her war chest to 23 state Democratic parties, 00:12:11.509 --> 00:12:13.309 including places like Texas, North Carolina, 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:15.629 Ohio, to bootstrap them. Now, her argument is 00:12:15.629 --> 00:12:17.909 that money spent in January is way more valuable 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:20.730 than money spent in October. It's an aggressive 00:12:20.730 --> 00:12:23.429 push to mobile. early and focus the narrative 00:12:23.429 --> 00:12:26.350 away from these big institutional crises and 00:12:26.350 --> 00:12:29.190 toward practical economic relief. OK, let's pivot 00:12:29.190 --> 00:12:31.669 back to institutional integrity with what the 00:12:31.669 --> 00:12:33.529 sources are calling the Captain America Showdown. 00:12:33.769 --> 00:12:37.129 This is just the bizarre attempt to demote a 00:12:37.129 --> 00:12:39.830 national hero. This is a direct attack on Captain 00:12:39.830 --> 00:12:43.429 Mark Kelly, former Navy captain, decorated astronaut, 00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:45.929 combat veteran, and it's coming from Secretary 00:12:45.929 --> 00:12:48.769 of Defense Pete Hegseth, the supposed crime. 00:12:49.330 --> 00:12:51.870 Kelly appeared in a video with other former officers 00:12:51.870 --> 00:12:54.230 reminding active personnel of their legal right 00:12:54.230 --> 00:12:56.789 and their obligation. under the Uniform Code 00:12:56.789 --> 00:12:59.429 of Military Justice to refuse illegal orders. 00:12:59.789 --> 00:13:01.909 A lesson learned from Nuremberg, which Hegseth 00:13:01.909 --> 00:13:05.509 labeled seditious. And he's using a very specific, 00:13:05.509 --> 00:13:09.009 obscure mechanism to punish Kelly, a retirement 00:13:09.009 --> 00:13:11.330 grade determination proceeding. To demote him 00:13:11.330 --> 00:13:15.029 and cut his pension, citing 10 USC Section 1370. 00:13:15.210 --> 00:13:17.490 What's fascinating here, though, is the absolute 00:13:17.490 --> 00:13:20.049 consensus among legal experts that Hegseth is 00:13:20.049 --> 00:13:22.639 facing. while possibly insurmountable obstacles. 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:25.740 The statute bases the retirement grade on service 00:13:25.740 --> 00:13:28.279 while active. The officer has to have served 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:30.360 satisfactorily. Wait, so they can't punish him 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:32.539 for what he said now. They have to somehow manufacture 00:13:32.539 --> 00:13:35.039 a scandal from his active service days. Exactly. 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:37.500 Reopening this requires substantial evidence 00:13:37.500 --> 00:13:40.000 of prior misconduct. It's not like the demotion 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.460 of Ronnie Jackson, which was based on misconduct 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:44.639 while he was serving. Kelly retired years ago 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:47.580 with distinction. And just on the substance of 00:13:47.580 --> 00:13:50.519 it, the legal attempt is paper thin. I mean, 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:53.200 just reciting existing law, the First Amendment 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.879 and the UCMJ. That's not a violation of good 00:13:55.879 --> 00:13:58.080 order and discipline. Hegseth is just claiming 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:01.159 it is. But politically, this move is incredibly 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:03.419 stupid, especially when you connect it back to 00:14:03.419 --> 00:14:06.059 this broader narrative of institutional stress 00:14:06.059 --> 00:14:08.840 we've been talking about. He's attacking a decorated 00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:11.559 veteran and a genuine hero right near the anniversary 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:14.480 of January 6. An example of actual sedition. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:16.820 It just gives Mark Kelly this massive platform. 00:14:17.100 --> 00:14:19.480 He's fighting back hard, tweezing that his 25 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:22.379 years of service 39 combat missions for space 00:14:22.379 --> 00:14:25.720 missions all of it was spent defending the constitution 00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:28.899 including the first amendment this botched smear 00:14:28.899 --> 00:14:32.049 attempt only elevates his profile and his credibility, 00:14:32.450 --> 00:14:34.450 especially with veteran voters who take duty 00:14:34.450 --> 00:14:37.009 and illegal orders very seriously. It gives him 00:14:37.009 --> 00:14:39.909 an even louder megaphone to criticize the administration's 00:14:39.909 --> 00:14:42.730 perceived warmongering. It is it's the political 00:14:42.730 --> 00:14:44.629 equivalent of pulling on Superman's cape and 00:14:44.629 --> 00:14:46.629 finding out he is in fact stronger than you. 00:14:46.909 --> 00:14:49.549 So we've covered these three huge interlinked 00:14:49.549 --> 00:14:52.559 tensions today. the volatile mix of domestic 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:54.860 law enforcement and local resistance in Minneapolis, 00:14:55.700 --> 00:14:58.100 the high stakes geopolitical moves for resources 00:14:58.100 --> 00:15:00.759 in Greenland and Venezuela, and this incredibly 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:03.519 narrow mathematical tightrope the House leadership 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.899 is walking every single day. And if we connect 00:15:05.899 --> 00:15:08.700 all this back to the bigger picture, all these 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:11.440 conflicts, the ICE overreach, the threat to NATO, 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:14.559 the attack on Mark Kelly, they all share a common 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:17.120 threat. It's an unprecedented institutional stress 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:19.460 and a willingness to just disregard democratic 00:15:19.460 --> 00:15:21.860 norms. We did note that democratic strategists 00:15:21.860 --> 00:15:24.360 are advising candidates to ignore democracy issues 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:27.000 in favor of kitchen table issues like affordability. 00:15:27.539 --> 00:15:29.639 But when you consider that the sources detail 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:31.480 the administration's attempts to rewrite the 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:33.960 history of January 6th, the push toward empire 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:36.120 in Greenland, and this direct attack on a veteran 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:38.759 for simply citing the law, a critical question 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:41.830 emerges for you the learner. Given these ongoing, 00:15:42.070 --> 00:15:44.289 high -profile attempts to undermine institutional 00:15:44.289 --> 00:15:46.830 integrity, how effective will it really be for 00:15:46.830 --> 00:15:49.230 Democrats to avoid talking about democratic norms? 00:15:49.750 --> 00:15:51.649 Is it possible in an age where the rule of law 00:15:51.649 --> 00:15:54.250 is constantly being tested to fully separate 00:15:54.250 --> 00:15:56.889 the cost of milk from the cost of liberty, something 00:15:56.889 --> 00:15:58.850 to chew on until our next deep dive?