Politics, the Military, and Donald Trump

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Now live from the civic media studios in Madison, Wisconsin,

where the political party is just beginning,

welcome to the devil's advocates radio show.

Friends proving it's never personal, only politics.

These allow me to introduce myself.

And now here's your host, Dom and Crute.

Welcome to the devil's advocates radio show.

Dom, I hardly ever say this,

but thank God it's Thursday.

Thank God it's Thursday.

Crute is going to be with you.

Nate working hard on the board.

Of course, our fair audience happy Friday.

Eve to us all.

Well, Dom, we've got another exceptional show for the people,

mostly because of my hard efforts.

I don't know what you're going to contribute today,

but just my good looks and charm, baby.

We got to find guests.

He's already in the hissy here at the civic media world headquarters,

top of state street 200.

Retired rear admiral Mike Smith.

And Mr Smith has already gotten quite a bit of press today.

Dom, I already got a little push from the journal Sentinel coverage

from an earlier appearance in Milwaukee today.

He was at the Wisconsin State Capitol today.

And pretty damn soon he's going to be right here next to me in the WMDX

92.7 FM studios, Dom and the topic will be the January six,

the January six.

And I did ask my congressman.

I did do a little field trip, low homework today.

Someone had to do the hard work.

I went and saw my congressman today, Mark Polkin at his district office.

And I did ask him about the January six.

But I'm to defer his response for just a little bit.

We're going to start on other topics.

But I have one other sort of pre grievance.

It's a pre grievance.

I'm almost right. It's Friday eve.

It's it's close enough for a grievance.

Mike, well, January six is on Saturday.

That will be the third anniversary of, you know,

the violent insurrection at the US Capitol.

And I have been promising our fair audience.

I would go to where Trump was in Newton Iowa, which is a little north of Des Moines.

And I've been denied press credentials by the Trump campaign.

And I'm not sure if they meant to do that.

Or if it's just because this is a pretty damn small ballroom, man,

you can rent this ballroom for wedding receptions for 1,500 bucks.

That's not a big room.

I don't care what tone and Iowa you're in.

If you can rent it for 1,500 bucks, they're going to be elbows to you know, what in that room?

Oh, it's very interesting.

Michael, of course, we've seen Donald Trump numerous times

at many, many rallies across the country.

And always, always, always were able to get in the press area to observe and report.

So here, here's my newest quandary three and a half hour drive.

Do I go to be amongst the Trumpsters?

You know, I would effectively have the exact same coverage vantage point.

It's not like you ever really get a good seat at those things.

If you sit down, then the people stand in front of you.

But you know, it sucks to have to stand there in the rally for hours, right?

That's what they do to the people.

It's like a cattle call.

They all just stand there.

By the time Trump is actually on the stage speaking, it's amazing.

Even when he was them, you know, burning it up on the stump

back when he would draw the really big rally crowds.

And my understanding is not so much anymore.

But the people would start leaving.

And who could blame them?

They'd been in line for four or five hours.

They've been standing on their feet.

You know, they got to deal with a couple of also ran local Congress people.

Want to be a warm up?

You know, Kim Reynolds is not coming on stage to warm them up for Donald Trump.

My understanding is Kim, the governor of the great state of Iowa's.

In the Rhonda Santa's camp, but anyway, all right, all right, just to be sure.

Just to be sure, just to figure out if it's, if it's personal or only, you know,

lack of space in their venue hall, down.

I requested credentials for a differing Trump event in Iowa.

Next Thursday, one week from today, Donald Trump's doing a little thing with

the Stabby McStabbers said Carson, Ben Carson, they're bringing them out of

retirement, bringing them out of the political mothballs down.

And they're doing like a little faithy kind of thing at a church near Cedar

Rapids, Iowa, my understanding.

And it would seem it's probably a big church.

He's bringing his one back black friend along, right?

He's bringing Stabby McStabbers and Ben Carson, field presidential candidate in his own

regard. We first saw Ben Carson at the Marriott Hotel, damn, about two o'clock

in the morning, showing up.

We were still drinking.

And now I want to be clear, Crudy, because I did see the invite in my email box, will

Donald Trump be at this event with that Carson?

Because they've been Carson only thing.

No, this is a Trump and Ben Carson.

You know, for the

really the reason he's sort of appearance, we're just going to go talk to the faithful

time.

Did you know, Trump, his favorite, his favorite Bible verses, all of them, did, did you

see?

I saw this on the Twitter, you know, the acts, whatever they call it these days, whatever

the kids are calling it, saw the Twitter dot, man, it's still Twitter to me.

I rarely go on, but I did see last night, there's new polling out about how

Republicans perceive, whether or not different people are religious or not.

Mitt Romney, the Republicans, 34% of Republicans called Mitt Romney a religious man.

But like 64% of Republicans called Donald Trump a religious man.

That makes zero sense.

I mean, obviously Mitt Romney's a faithful Mormon.

And of course, he was critical of the orange Messiah, so maybe that skews some people's

opinions.

Dom, let's jump in.

Again, I did a little work.

Let's play the song for the people.

Let's get started.

Mark Polkin in the district here in the second where I live currently might move up to

the 6cd, make a little trouble up there.

But there you go.

Dom, we got some pending deadlines when the government might shut down there barely

two weeks away, two dates, referenced often by Mark Polkin today, January 19th and February

2nd.

And effectively, Republicans have shown no inclination to try and actually accomplish

anything that would keep the government open beyond these deadlines.

And while Mark didn't clearly express an opinion about whether or not they want to shut

down the government, what Mark did talk about is the fact that they ain't exactly sticking

around and governing in D.C.

Remember yesterday, what would they do in the whole damn near the whole GOP caucus is

down at Eagle Pass, Texas doing a little phone already in the border, man.

Well, here is what our pal, my congressman, Mark Polkin had to say about that.

Let's start with cut three, Mark Polkin from today.

Yeah, I mean, I think what they should be doing is looking at the calendar.

There's a January 19th and February 2nd, we could have a federal government shutdown

unless we do something fiscally.

That's like our 101.

And if 60 Republicans want to get together in Texas or Maryland or Rhinelander to talk

about that, that would be good.

But if they're just going for photo ops and something that they'd bother to fix when

Trump was president, you know, I mean, look, it's a good issue for that, right, to talk

about the border.

If they can't do anything else and so far, I haven't been censored the other, they've

got 433 of us to go, right?

So they still got some time to get that done.

You know, they can't do much right now.

They're so ineffective.

And I think, you know, going down there is just continuing showing how ineffective they

are because they can't actually tackle the many things I mentioned that we have pending

in the next 30 days.

And instead, that's what they're talking about.

So I'll spare you a similar sounding sound bite, but it was pointed out to Mark Polkin

that his congressional colleague, Derek van Orden from the third, well, he was down

an eagle pass yesterday and you know, Mark said, well, of course he is.

And you know, he, he said, well, maybe, maybe Derek got some good bearded chili down

there or something.

But you know, it'd be nice if we came back to work and did some of the, what do they call

that?

The governing, the keeping the government ultimate.

That would be a great idea.

Now I did ask this one of Mark, a longer question, but I've cut it down here who I said

you know, Ron Johnson is part of the problem here, the negotiations.

And the negotiations on the border currently are tied into funding with Ukraine, funding

on Israel.

And of course, the Biden administration offered $14 billion worth of new border funding,

which Republicans rejected.

And it's my understanding because I've been listening to Ron and he's been appearing

on lots of righty, whitey talk radio sources and you know, the Maria Bartiroma.

Ron doesn't want to deal.

Ron's living for the intransigence.

Ron wants a complete seal of the southern border and that's the only thing that will satisfy

Ron Johnson.

No, thank God he's not one of the negotiators.

But while these negotiations are going on with the Senate Republicans, the House Republicans

are going to impeach my orcs, the guy that's helping to negotiate the deal.

They're going to impeach the guy, you know, for failing to do his job.

And Mark did point out, you know, these Republicans were in charge.

Without, you know, the incumbrance of a democratic house or a democratic Senate,

they had all three chambers, right?

How Senate the presidency?

Well, yes, before Donald Trump will lost them all.

Why didn't, why didn't they pass any border stuff?

Why didn't they close the border?

Why didn't they secure the border with the question asked by my congressman?

But anyways, Ron Johnson in the border deal, let's play it for the people.

Cut for you.

You think our friend Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, is he, is there a realistic path to ever satisfy

this?

Are we never going to fund these financial appropriations?

They've had opportunity to do it.

They still have opportunities to get it done.

And I don't think they want to address the border at all because it's a political right

now issue for them.

It's a hammer that they're using.

And the system is broken.

And everyone can see, just like you can see what happens in January 6th, you can see

that our policies, the border, aren't working.

The problem is, that's Congress's job to fix the law as the president can't.

He doesn't have those powers.

Congress has to do something.

So if they come back and suggest either stupid ideas like Ron Johnson, which seems to be

his forte, or come back and just, you know, do things that are one sided that aren't

going to go anywhere, they're continuing to intentionally do nothing about the border.

So that's how I look at it.

I mean, I think this is nothing more than them trying to keep some issue alive rather

than their inability to pass anything in Congress.

They want some issue to beat Democrats with it.

And I think the border is what they've decided is their issue.

Had 60 people down there this week.

Mark Polkian, my congressman, I was at his district office in Madison a little bit earlier

today.

We're going to save some of this sound for a little bit later.

Mark talked extensively on Gaza and Israel.

And what he perceives is a humanitarian crisis going on there.

And Mark had been seeking for a decade to travel to Gaza and had just gotten permission

and the window was sometime between Halloween and now.

He hasn't made the trip yet.

Let's just put it that way.

More devil's advocates, more Mark Polkian, than a rear admiral Mike Smith in the studio

with us.

Kicking ass and taking names since the Wisconsin uprising, the devil's advocates.

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Dominic January 6 coming on Saturday.

As I mentioned, I had intended to attend a Trump rally.

Newton, Iowa, I have been denied credentials.

Let's see if they meant to do that or if it's just a small venue.

I asked for a different Trump event next Thursday.

So it took them two days to deny my credentials on the last Trump event.

You know, by Friday, I shouldn't know the answer.

Hopefully, well, we'll let you know.

We'll keep you posted audience, but don't the January 6.

It's coming with or without my attendance at the Trump rally.

And Joe Biden will address the nation this Saturday.

It is his intent to make a big deal out of this.

Trump, of course, is trying to win the Iowa caucuses.

Trump's trying to win his presidential get out of jail free and you know, absolute

immunity to look at that.

That's not happening.

But the man's running for his, you know, his life is a fendon to his freedom.

I mean, talking about a campaigner, this guy should be out there knocking doors all

day every day.

He should knock every door to America because that might be what it would take to keep

him out of prison.

But now I did ask my Congressmen, our buddy Mark Polkan about the January 6.

Obviously, we marked the third anniversary of the violent insurrection.

And you know, I won't, I won't talk about the regrets of what I wish I'd have asked

us to follow up because there were some randos in the room and people weren't following

the whole stream of consciousness always.

But I did ask Mark about the January 6 and here is his response to yours truly.

Cut number one.

Mark Polkan.

Yeah, I mean, you know, just believe your eyes and ears, not newsmax, away under Fox

News, right?

I mean, you saw what happened that day.

We have video of Mike Gallagher making a passion plea to the president and others to

back down.

We have heard every Republican, including people like Captain McCarthy and others who

said things that day because what happened that day happened.

But you can't then just because Donald Trump said it's different or the certain conservative

media say it's different, not believe your eyes and ears.

So just remember what you saw, we have, the thing is, most of us have never experienced

this.

Other countries have often had like coup attempts or insurrections and that's been more

normal.

We haven't had it.

So for us, in our lifetimes, we don't know what we're looking at when we saw it.

But I can tell you, I was there.

And he did go on to recount what he saw in January six.

Now, Dom, full context, I did frame the question around the polling we saw at the Washington

Post, we discussed on the air recently that Republicans are sort of forgetting what

happened on the January six.

And they're forgetting who was responsible for what happened on the January six.

And if we believe the polling, Republicans, ah, it's not so violent.

You know, and Trump, how could you possibly hold him accountable?

You know, because Gary will tell you every time he said peacefully, that should exonerate

all the other violent, inciting words he said, because he threw in the CYA peacefully

right right there at the end.

You heard it.

The one word, this is all the other words he said that day at the ellipse and all the

other actions.

I don't want to worry about that just peacefully.

A little bit more from Mark Polkin, again, I just want to talk about why he addressed it

in this way.

It's because I asked him from the framing of the polling, you know, how troubling is it

Mark that, you know, Republicans want to forget.

They want to pretend like this was no big deal.

Well, I can certainly understand that, you know, Congressman Gallagher as Mark Congressman

Polkin mentioned very impassioned, man, we've seen this live, man, we are on the radio.

We saw this.

The gas masks were coming on.

I mean, this was, it was in all these, they love these megas, frightened to death in the

chambers, man.

And then, you know, years later, then it's all tough guy action, all no big deal.

But at the time, they were coloring for their lives.

They were blocking the doors to Congress.

I mean, a woman got shot for crying out, I'm trying to get in many people, die.

I mean, all you have to do is check out the video, man, it's all out there.

The J6 committee put it out and you can say, well, we saw the video of the peaceful protestors

as they were, you know, meandering through the Capitol, great.

It was peaceful until it wasn't.

And then it wasn't.

And they got really, really, really nasty.

And that is what Mark's going to describe next and Mark was in the long worth building,

which is, again, I think I've described this very recently in regards to, you know, handing

off the fake Trump electors to Scott Perry staff at the long worth building, which is maybe

a quarter mile from the US Capitol building.

And in this case, as we told that story, maybe another quarter mile to the Russell Senate

office building.

Mark's in the long worth building, very close to the Capitol, basically a lines with

Capitol Hill.

You could walk out of the Capitol ground street into the long worth building you literally

cross the block.

That's where I bumped into your girl Lauren Bolbert, but Dom, Mark was on the roof.

They took Mark out of his chambers.

He was on the seventh floor.

He was walking on the roof of the long worth building and he had a direct visual sightline

with the US Capitol.

And he could see it wasn't just one side.

They had engulfed.

They were coming in on both sides of the building concurrently and his only regret, he didn't

take photos from that vantage point more of my congressman, Mark Polkan, talking about

the January 6, 2021 and his vantage point, cut number two, please.

And I think you all saw it.

In fact, you probably saw it better because I was watching a couple of networks, but I

was in a lockdown in my office in long worth at the time, but we talked to the members

that were on the floor and I was on the seventh floor of long worth, so I walked on the

roof.

It looked and I should have took pictures for anyone who would have used them, it would

have been great because it was the crowds on both sides of the Capitol as they were kind

of breaking in.

It wasn't just the one side, it was two sides of the building that we saw all the activity

on.

But we just have to remember that you know, democracy can't be fragile and you know, Donald

Trump is a uniquely flawed figure who is trying to rewrite history and this is something

you expect from despots and autocrats, not from people who are present in the United States.

So just believe your eyes and ears, you saw things happen, don't let someone tell you

differently.

It's almost like he's speaking directly to Mike Gallagher.

That's a guy who's lost his courage.

Uh, Dom, there is an article at the journal sent, he'll got a little push, Bill Glober

reporting ex Navy officer calls Donald Trump, ex-essential threat in warns of his reelection

and that retired naval officer is going to join me here in the WMDX studios in just a minute.

He is retired Navy rear admiral Michael Smith.

And he said he never imagined living in a world where it's been my post-service life

defending the future of democracy from a domestic threat in the form of a former president.

Another quote from that article, the Milwaukee Journal sent an all from Mr. Smith, we're

not supposed to get involved in politics.

He added about being a retired officer that tells us to stay out of politics, but the

threat that Donald Trump and his ultra mega accomplices present, it just compels me to

break with that tradition.

You know, I did offer him a beer, I mean, it is a Navy man, he is a Navy man.

And you know, unlike the Diracvan, Orden Stathard, DC, I mean, it's like 430 here, Diracvan

Orden Stath offered my wife a beer at 930 in the morning, Eastern time.

Well, it was 1030 Eastern, 930 Central.

So it's all good.

Come back.

Devils, advocates, and a fine guest, retired Navy rear admiral Michael Smith in studio.

I don't know if you know the devil's advocates, but the show is kind of a big deal.

Look back to the devils, advocates, radio showed the Thursday edition.

Dominic, I've been joined by a fine guest here in the WMDX 92.7 FM studios.

He is Michael Smith, he is a retired rear admiral in the US Army, pardon me, David, dammit.

I was in the army.

I should have looked at the bio at that.

You know, on purpose, say hi to rear admiral Michael Smith, retired Mr. Smith, pleasure to

meet you.

Michael, thanks for making the trip up here.

The topic today, January 6th, and our friends that have served our nation in the military,

I remember when I was at boot camp and the command captain, whoever ran our platoon,

you know, whoever was in charge, the officer in charge came in and said, gentlemen, do

you know what just happened?

We're like, no, sir, we don't read the papers.

We can't watch television.

We have no idea what just happened.

Well, in my case, it was the fall of the Berlin Wall and you thought it was historical

and we should know about it and we didn't.

We didn't because they don't really tell you about those things in real time.

You know, you're very cloistered, if you will.

Politics doesn't come naturally for those of us that have served in the military, doesn't

Michael?

No, not at all.

I mean, you spend your whole career being taught to stay out of politics.

You know, we're going to do what the law floaters were given and we're going to execute

and you went to Annapolis.

You went to the US Naval Academy.

You always intended a career in the Navy apparently.

I did.

My father was in the Navy.

I liked it and, you know, from the beginning it was, hey, I want to see how far they'll

let me go.

And rear admirals pretty far.

Is that like three stars, sir?

No, no, no.

I was actually just the one star.

So I had a, my last commander, I commanded an aircraft carrier strike group.

So the aircraft carrier, all the planes and ships and stuff like that.

And how many souls under your command is they say, sir, about 8,000 altogether?

So that's a pretty hefty management role that's more than Dom's ever had.

I feel quite responsibility, Mike.

Our fine guests retired rear admiral, Michael Smith, and you see in the Madison studios

with me, Michael, again, military people don't often involve themselves in politics.

But you are out there and you are basically giving public appearances right now in real

time.

You have today in Milwaukee and here in Madison and here you are on the radio, sir.

And the topic has been January six.

Why, why this?

Why now, sir?

You know, you're right.

Not only does active duty have to stay out of politics, but the culture is that retired

admirals and generals will stay out of politics when they retire.

And I never imagined I'd be here, but I'm hearing Wisconsin because the threat that Donald

Trump poses is an existential threat to democracy, you know, and what better way to remind people

of what Donald Trump stands for than to highlight the the egregious acts of that insurgency

on 6 January.

So if you're going to go anywhere Wisconsin is a tipping point state, every vote counts

and I'm going to come here and start the discussion with the people to remind them about the threat

that Donald Trump is.

Michael, you know, there are many Trump supportive.

In fact, the numbers are starting to decline those that feel like the actions were really

violent intended and that Donald Trump has culpability and should be held responsible.

The polling numbers actually tell us Republicans are diminishing in their beliefs.

So sir, how do you how do you change their attitudes?

You know, I think they have that opinion because all you've heard so far is the lies from

Donald Trump.

Now you're starting to see, you know, the criminal case coming forward, it's starting to produce

insights into not just the attempts on the storming the capital and influencing the legislatures,

but we're finding out they had a multi-pronged attack to use these fake electors to forward

through Wisconsin Senator, you know, a slate that was false in order to undermine the election.

I think we're going to learn more and more about the facts that then we'll start to hopefully

get people to understand that these lies you've been hearing for Trump for three years

are just that.

Well, sir, listening to the devils advocates radio show that is retired Navy rear admiral

Michael Smith joining crudey in the Madison studios.

Thank you for doing so, Michael.

You've been on the job.

We're in the uniform for over 30 years.

Obviously, very patriotic supports your country.

What was your thought when you saw January 6th, when you saw the insurrection as it unfolded

on live television, live radio, Michael, what was going through your head?

I just couldn't believe that that was happening in our country and, you know, my whole career,

it was about preserving democracy and, you know, I grew up in the cold war and it was

about, you know, democracy and defending democracy and, and I thought I was seeing something

from some other country.

And the fact that, you know, the next day, almost every politician in the, on the hill felt

the same way, you know, it wasn't until, okay, a week later, when suddenly they're worried

about their jobs and their power and retaining themselves where you saw that change, but

there was no one that saw or was there on the 6th of January that thought that was anything

other than an insurrection.

Michael, from a security standpoint, it's very difficult for me to comprehend how this could

have gone on as long as it did and the cavalry was not coming.

I mean, we're talking about Washington, DC, man, you know, the Pentagon right there and

some of my concerns, I want to get your sense of being from a guy on the inside.

Christopher Miller was appointed by Donald Trump, what, November 9th of 2020 lasted until

what January 20th of 21, as the, what, how do the Pentagon?

He put out an engagement letter, how they should deal with the Trump supporters.

And then Charles Flynn was on the phone call, his brother Michael Flynn, of course, we

know about Michael Flynn and his issues.

Do you think there was a failing at the Pentagon at the highest levels?

What's your sense?

Was this done on purpose?

Was this just a failing?

I cannot imagine if Black Lives Matter was going through there.

They had Trump in the, in the, in the dugout band when that was happening, but this happens

and Trump's eating a burger, washing television for three hours, wire supporters, ransacked

the thin blue line.

What's your take on the Pentagon's lack of action on this?

You know, I just can't speak to that to the facts.

I wasn't there.

I haven't seen it all.

I will say that I have complete confidence that the uniform leadership at the time was

trying to do the right thing.

But as you say, at the end of the day, it's the Secretary of Defense and they've got

to, to go out and request the National Guard because of the way it's set up in DC to

come to the assistance of the mayor.

So I, I don't know the specifics, but given what we've seen about General Miley and

the rest of the uniform leadership at the time, they were doing what was right.

They were going by their oath to the Constitution.

I mean, I think that, that has to be a fact because Trump has already said the guy should

be hanged.

I mean, obviously he was doing the right thing.

Folks, find guest here in the Madison Studios, one block away from where the crime

went on, the fake electors here at the Wisconsin State Capitol, our find guest Michael Smith,

a retired rear admiral, apparently from the Navy, not the Army.

But Michael, one of the questions on our listeners on our text line, it's got a question for

you, sir.

Do you think that a good majority of the Republican Party is a threat to our democracy?

And he does say our friend Dana from LaCrosse, thank you for your service, sir.

Do you think a good majority of the Republican Party is a threat to our democracy?

No, no.

What I'm saying is that Donald Trump and his view on the ability, as he said, that maybe

I'll suspend the Constitution or I'll only be a dictator on day one.

I believe that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy.

And that is who we are doing everything we can to defeat.

And so it starts with bringing the attention to the voters who, you know, for three years

now, most people aren't paying attention.

They're not like you and I, where we're, you know, following the news cycle, where

know what's going on, kids, that's what we're paying attention to.

Most people just are raising their families and having a job.

And maybe they look at politics three or five minutes a week, it's time to start to get

their attention and, and remind them that it's Donald Trump that is the threat.

Admiral Smith, do you think fear of the megabase?

I mean, you talked about so many of these people a day after January 6th, they were horrified

by what they saw.

How many of them do you think have been frightened into some sort of silence and, and to not fully

express what they saw or what they believe because they fear for their lives?

I don't know how many fear for their lives.

I will tell you that they're clearly from my perspective, the Republican leadership

on the hill, fears for their jobs and for their power and they want to maintain their

power.

And therefore, they know the only way to retain their power is to go down to Mar-a-Lago

and kiss the ring and say, oh, you're wonderful and nothing really happens.

So I think it's fear of losing their power that it is the, the chain that Trump has

around Republican leaders on the hill.

But sir, if they're, if they're willing to follow him down this authoritarian rabbit

hole, then, then I have a hard time saying Trump is the only problem.

I think his co-conspirators are part of the problem.

I think a party that would allow this to happen on their watch is also part of the problem.

I don't, I don't forgive or forget the rest of the Republican Party were right there

and in goose step on so many of these issues.

You know, I would, I'm just drawing the distinction between all Republicans versus the leadership.

And I agree that the, the Trump and then his, his associates and his synchophants up on

the hill are threats of democracy.

The ultra-maga conspirators that were helping with that fake electric plot, that those people

are threats to democracy.

But you're listening to the devils, advocates ready to show, going to find guests here

in the Madison studios.

He has retired rear admiral, Michael Smith, he's making a plea to what, what is the cause

here?

What we're talking about January 6th, we, we know from your opinion, sir, and I would

share that opinion, Donald Trump is the biggest part of the problem and the reelection

of Donald Trump is a problem.

But action steps, if someone's listening to us, what, what do we want them to do?

You know, especially here in Wisconsin, they, if, if they're listening to this show and

they understand what it is you're saying and what we're saying here today and they agree

that Donald Trump is in fact an existential threat to democracy.

They need to go out and they need to talk to their family.

They need to talk to their friends, find those people who are so busy running their families

and their jobs that they, they're just not paying attention yet to Donald Trump.

And they need, they need to raise their voices.

They need to make sure people understand now, this year, this election year, that he's

a threat.

And so my call is for everyone to stand up and forcefully go out and let people know what

a threat he represents.

The military is a great melting pot.

It really is, you know, guys that serve with me and my platoon from all across the United

States of all ethnicities and, you know, gay people, straight people, racist people.

They were all thrown together in the same barracks.

This nation is a melting pot and it seems like so much of this rhetoric from Donald Trump

is really following the example of, of, let's say Hitler.

It sounds very echoey of, of the Nazis in, in World War II.

How much of this is a sort of white nationalist threat?

How much, how much do you think that factors in Admiral?

You know, I think that Donald Trump has learned what it takes to get his base energized.

And he knows that, that talking about immigrants is a negative thing, talking about, you know,

German and talking about pure blood.

And those are things that are going to motivate his base.

We need to go after the independent voter, the undecided voter and convince them that that's

not who they want to be with.

And America is about embracing immigration and, and everyone being equal and it's not

the message that Donald Trump is putting out.

Folks, you're listening to the Devil's Advocates for a New Show.

We've got to find guest, he's hopefully going to stick around.

He has retired rear admiral Michael Smith from the US Navy.

He's in Wisconsin today.

He's talking about January 6th in the threat of Donald Trump.

Stick around, I know you well.

Join Brandy Grayson to discuss the challenges and obstacles family space today.

Black convergence, Thursday nights at 7 on the talk you can't ignore, mad radio 92.7

WMD.

The big and tall of political talk, the Devil's Advocates.

And welcome back to the Devil's Advocates radio show retired Navy rear admiral Michael Smith

sticking around for another segment.

Thank you for doing so, Admiral.

I want to kind of dovetail off the produce last question, white nationalism and maybe

add to that, you know, anti-government kind of sentiment.

The print I got a couple of years ago came out with a report talking about how this

is impacting our national forces.

And I want to get your sense, I think about the groups like the oath keepers and the proud

boys and those kinds of folks who have really gone to the mega side and support that.

And I would consider them anti-government type forces, but seemingly a lot of them are

retired military and police officers, those kinds of things.

How would you address other folks who have taken the oath to support the Constitution,

but for some reason are following a guy like Donald Trump, who obviously in my opinion

couldn't give a damn about the Constitution, Admiral.

You know, I think that first of all, there's a recent study to keem out for an institute

for defense analysis that went back and said, what is extremism in the Department of Defense?

This is an independent organization.

They went in, they took a look at who participated and is there extremism on active duty?

And the answer was no, that in fact the representation was similar to society, which is who we recruit

from.

So I don't think we really have necessarily an extremist, we do not have an extremist

issue with the active duty forces.

As far as the veterans that don't then go into become white supremacists, we're never

going to be able to influence them.

They're down that path.

My organization, the organizations I partner with today that are talking about getting folks

out to vote, that's what we need to do.

We need to energize people to get to vote, so because their vote matters just as much

as that other person, and if we can get more people to the polls and get them to vote,

it doesn't matter how many white extremists are voting for Trump, because we'll have more

people voting for his opponent.

And so I think that it's the efforts that we can take with the power to the polls and

the League of Women's Voters to be able to really energize those who are willing to fight

democracy by getting to the polls and voting the voting to make sure that Donald Trump

does not win.

The mega base, sir.

We all have friends.

We have family.

We have that one uncle.

I've tried to have conversations in each and every day, Dominic, I try to have sort of

open-minded conversations with people that don't think like we do.

What do you think the value of trying to impress upon, let's call them a Trumpster, someone

that is currently Trump's support of despite all?

Do you see value in trying to have these conversations with those people?

Can we change their minds?

You know, personally, I don't think we can.

I think at this point, his base, his 33% of the Republican Party that will always be

with them, we're not going to be able to influence them.

We have to go after the middle.

We have to get to those voters who, again, aren't really paying attention yet, and we need

to bring up the facts.

We need to let them know that Donald Trump betrayed his oath of office.

He betrayed the Constitution of the United States when he tried to undermine a free and

fair election.

An election his staff told him he lost, but he's lying to the American people.

We're not going to be able to wrench away segments of that 33% of the Republican Party,

but we can convince that in undecided voter, that that's not who they want to support.

Admiral, Admiral Michael Smith retired, do you think it's important to continue to have

dialogue?

I mean, I know what you said, we're not going to change their mind, but I just feel like

they're still our neighbors, and do we devolve into this point where there is such a

divide in this country we just don't talk to our neighbors anymore?

Well, I think talking to our neighbors or thinking we can change our neighbors' views

are two different things.

I don't think we can be silent.

I think we have to express this.

We have to point out when people have made a mistake.

We have to point out that do you know what he just said is the same type of language that

the Nazis used in World War II as you brought up?

We have to point those out.

It's not a free pass, but if we have got one minute left in this year before the election,

I want to spend that minute trying to get the folks who right now aren't paying attention

to pay attention.

We had some climbing go on at this state capital, allegedly, and my thought is, it's not

just Donald Trump that needs to be held accountable for what happened on January 6th.

How important is it for history sake that Trump is held accountable or anybody else that

participated in this coup plot or the violence thereof?

You know, it's absolutely critical.

That's why I'm saying that democracy is on the ballot because it's the freedoms that

are being challenged.

It's the rule of law that is being challenged, our norms that are being challenged.

You have senior politicians that are condoning or at least excusing the insurgents of

6th January.

That's saying that it's okay for losers of an election to use violence to try and overcome

the will of the people.

That's the rule of law.

You have to be held accountable if you were part of it.

If you were in the insurrection, then you have to be found guilty and politicians should

not be allowed to somehow condone it, or as Trump has implied, pardon them if they're

elected.

Retired.

Navy, rear admiral, Michael Smith, for just a couple more minutes.

Mike, the January 6th committee, I thought it a great job presenting a lot of the information

in the videos and the story.

My concern is it seems like a while ago, politically speaking, seems like a lifetime ago.

What do you think needs to happen between now and then?

Obviously, that committee has disbanded.

What information?

What do you think is going to hook those people who are slowly starting to wake up and pay

attention knowing that we're in a new election year?

Is it the videos?

Is it the court cases?

I mean, what do we need to focus on in your opinion, sir?

You know, I think it is going to be the court cases.

I think the court cases are now going to be bringing to light information that for whatever

reason, the January 6th committee was unable to get, you know, so not everybody showed

up.

They didn't.

They played the fifth.

Now you're getting people who themselves were fake electors and they're coming forward

and they're explaining what happened.

We're going to learn more and more and it's going to demonstrate at the end of the day

Donald Trump has to be stopped.

Retired.

We're at a girl, Michael Smith.

Thank you so much for coming, sir.

Where is home for you, just so people know you've traveled a long ways.

Northern Virginia.

Oh, okay.

Not too far.

I thought I had heard overseas.

Oh, no, no, no.

I grew up in Hawaii.

I would like to be there now, but unfortunately, my family voted different.

I would like to join you there now.

Admiral Michael Smith, thank you so much for joining us here on the Devils Advocates.

A happier, happier, happy hours next with conjecture about troll Aaron Rogers.