Senator Tammy Duckworth
Appearances
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And also, Secretary Mattis had to have this waiver as well. Mr. Hacksmith, this hearing is about whether you qualify to be Secretary of Defense. And one of the qualifications, to answer my colleague's question, is to actually be win the votes of every member of this committee and to be confirmed by the United States Senate.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
And you need to convince us that you're worthy of that vote because the people of the state of Illinois voted for me to be their senator so that I could cast that vote when it comes to picking who is going to be the next Secretary of Defense.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
This hearing now seems to be a hearing about whether or not women are qualified to serve in combat and not about whether or not you are qualified to be Secretary of Defense. And let me just say that the American people need a SecDef who's ready to lead on day one. You are not that person. Our adversaries watch closely during times of transition.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
And any sense that the Department of Defense that keeps us safe is being steered by someone who's wholly unprepared for the job puts America at risk. And I am not willing to do that. With that in mind, Mr. Hexeth, I want you to try to explain to the American people this committee...
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
who have to vote for you, and to our troops who are deployed around the world, why you are qualified to lead the Department of Defense. We already know that you've only led the largest 200-person organization. We already know that you so badly mangled a budget that after you left, they had to bring in a forensic accountant to figure out what went wrong. And the largest budget you ever made.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
never led an audit. What guidance did you give the auditors? None, because you've never led an audit. Nobody expects you to be an accountant, Mr. Hexath. What we expect is for you to understand the complexity of this Pentagon budget process that is absolutely necessary to outfit our warfighters.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
Look, the Secretary of Defense is required to make quick decisions every single day with high-level information that's being provided for them. A Secretary of Defense has to have breadth and depth of knowledge. Right now, I am concerned that you have neither. Mr. Hextech, what is the highest level of international negotiations that you have engaged in, that you have led in?
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
Because the Secretary of Defense does lead international security negotiations. There are three main ones that the Secretary of Defense leads and signs. Can you name at least one of them?
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
Sure. What is the highest level of international security agreement that you have led? And can you name some that the Secretary of Defense would lead? There's three main ones.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
Can you name one of the three main ones that the Secretary of Defense signs?
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
Status of Forces Agreement would be one of them.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
But you don't remember to mention it? You're not qualified, Mr. Hexeth. You're not qualified. You talk about repairing our defense industrial complex. You're not qualified to that. You could do the acquisition and cross-servicing agreements, which essentially are security agreements. You can't even mention that. You've done none of those.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
You talked about the Indo-Pacific a little bit, and I'm glad that you mentioned it. Can you name... the importance of at least one of the nations in ASEAN and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations. And how many nations are in ASEAN, by the way?
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
None of those three countries that you've mentioned are in ASEAN. I suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. Listen, Mr. Hexel, this is... We ask our troops to go into harm's way all the time. We ask them to go into harm's way. And this behind me is a copy of the Soldier's Creed, a copy that usually hangs over my desk here in the Senate.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
And you should be familiar with it. It's the same copy that hung over my desk at Walter Reed every single day that I woke up and fought my way back because I wanted to go back and serve next to my buddies who saved my life. The same copy, these words are repeated over and over and over again. And let me read out two things to you, two sentences. I will always place the mission first.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
And I am disciplined physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior task. Mr. Hexeth, our troops follow these words every single day. And they man up and they pack their rucksacks and they go to war. And they deserve a leader who can lead them, not a leader.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
He has filed for bankruptcy six times. I'm not quite sure he's the kind of CEO you want to refer to as a successful businessman. Let me make it clear. You can't seem to grasp that there is no U.S. military, as we know it, without the incredible women that we serve. Women who've earned their place in their units. You have not earned your place as Secretary of Defense.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Watch Party
You say you care about keeping our armed forces strong and that you like that our armed forces are meritocracy. Then let's not lower the standards for you. You, sir, are a no-go at this station.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I actually love America so much. You know, maybe we have too much liberty and freedom. I don't know. That seems to be what this administration thinks.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Yeah.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
They gave me body armor and bullets when I went to war, so I think Congress is harder. Yeah, I know.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I'm in it.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I was a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. Loved it. Right.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I did. I was pissed off that we were not taking care of our veterans, so I decided to run.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Well, we were doing really well until Trump decided to fire 6,000 of them from their federal jobs in the last three months.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Well, you know, I guess this is a guy who hugs the flag, says he loves America, but then fires 6,000 veterans. I don't think he cares about us.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
There was no reason. It's part of their cuts across federal government. Veterans, after they serve in the military, tend to want to serve the country, continue to. As civil servants. As civil servants. So 30% of the federal workforce are veterans. And so this president has fired more veterans than any other veterans, than any other president in modern history.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
6,000 and counting.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
It was Doge's across-the-board cuts. When you fire this many federal employees, you're going to lose that many veterans. But Doge has also come out, and they've announced they want to cut 80,000 personnel just from the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's their next target.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
It was getting better. We passed the PACT Act, which was bipartisan, which basically... signed up a million more veterans who were exposed to cancer-causing toxic smoke from burn pits. They're finally getting the care that they need. And now we have those folks on board, and now they're gonna fire all the people who take care of those folks.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Well, we can we can try to stop them. We are fighting them every step of the way. In my case, I've been able to get some veterans their jobs back. They fired veterans from the veterans crisis hotline. These are people who answered the phone when a veteran is contemplating suicide. They pick up the phone and they get an answer within eight seconds or at least they used to.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
And so some of the folks who work in that hotline were fired and they reached out to me and we were able to get them their jobs back. So we are fighting back.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Yeah, they've had to cancel operations. The spouses, the family members of disabled veterans are not getting support through their hotline. appointments are being canceled or now they're having to wait even longer, we would just turn in the corner. We were actually reducing the number of homeless veterans. We were just adding more veterans, getting more benefits.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
But remember, this is a president who says people who are wounded or died for this country in uniform are all losers and suckers. He doesn't care about us.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I mean... Well, I think what they bought was this rhetoric from him that he was going to, you know, he was going to make America great, strong, and powerful, and yet all he's done is made us weaker, sicker, and less secure.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Oh, definitely. Have you seen what's been happening at these Republican town halls where people across the country are showing up in town halls and saying, what are you doing to our veterans? I'm a veteran. Why did you cut my benefits? I had a veteran reach out to me from Tennessee because he was declared dead and didn't get his regular checks.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
He didn't reach out to me through a Ouija board. He actually reached out to me.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I think it's changing. I think there's two things that are happening. One, the fact that he is basically kissing Vladimir Putin's ring, you know, means that these are people who spent their entire military careers getting ready to oppose Russia. And now they see the commander in chief basically doing whatever Putin wants him to do. So that is changing the sentiment.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
The other thing that's happening is all of this rhetoric against women serving, against LGBTQ veterans serving. People forget that there's been a generational change within the military. Gen Xers are now the old people. Millennials are now the upper management. And they've only ever served. And we're happy to be here. And now it's finally our turn to take charge.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I'm Gen X. Okay. So millennials are now the majors, colonels. Wait, they're colonels now? They're now colonels. They're now sergeants majors. They're now higher ranking.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
It is, because I think a lot of them didn't believe that that was what was going to happen. And they saw the reality of the fact that the military cannot do its job without women in service. The military cannot truly do its job without diversity in the force, where people can speak different languages around the world. You want soldiers who can speak Swahili without forces in Africa.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
You want soldiers that can speak all the different languages. And so the millennials have only ever been in a military where there was equal service with women and LGBTQ.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Well, you know. But you want native speakers, right? You want more diversity. Diversity and inclusion is a good thing. You want people who have those backgrounds. You want somebody like me who speaks Thai and Indonesian to be able to go in and speak those local languages.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
And we also have people in charge of the military now, the millennial generation, who have only ever served equally without Don't Ask, Don't Tell. So they know the lie behind, oh, LGBTQ people are not good for the military. Well, no, they know that we've always served equally and we can't go to war without each other.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
So I don't know how to... A lot of them are very MAGA, but they're seeing the reality behind the betrayal and they're seeing what's happening to veterans with the cuts at the VA. They're also seeing what is happening with Trump bowing down to Putin. Just watch those town halls. A lot of them revolve around people standing up and saying, what are you doing for our national security?
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Yeah, I voted against him. He's the least qualified Secretary of Defense in our nation's history. The least qualified.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Give him a chance.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Well, let's see. The largest budget he ever was in charge of was something like $13 million, and he screwed that up so badly they had to bring in forensic accountants to figure out what he did wrong. And now he's in charge of an $825 billion budget. You're talking about a guy who used Signal Chat to plan a, you know, a strike, right? A military strike.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
So who basically put in an unsecured channel 30 minutes after the drones hit, our F-18s will be on target, basically telling the bad guys this is where those F-18s are going to be and exactly what time. He put those pilots lives in danger. He does not deserve to be the secretary of defense.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I never planned an outing for the military involving weapons of war.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
What I say is that's not true. It never was. This is a fake argument on their side because it was never done. Remember that this president fired a secretary of defense who was a pilot, highly decorated, 40 years of experience, commanded major units, and replaced him with a guy who was a platoon leader
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
who had never run a budget larger than $10 million, and who couldn't even mention parts of the world, you know, where the U.S. has huge troop presence, who didn't understand where the nations of ASEAN were, for crying out loud. And this is the guy that's going to be in charge of our nuclear submarines that transition those sea lanes? Are you kidding me?
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
He got confirmed.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Party line vote.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
And I guess... A couple people crossed the party line, but not enough.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I think the Republicans who are willing to stand up to him were the ones from the first term. They're not back. Right. And so the ones that are there are becoming invertebrates. They've lost their backbones and they're hiding in their shells. This is where they are. They just roll over for this president.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
No, they're worried about their own reelection. And at a certain point, you need to say, you know what? Come at me. Go ahead and primary me. My country is more important than this job.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
And unfortunately, most of our Republican colleagues don't think that. They're not acting in that way.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I think the message that's not getting through here, what Trump did was he spoke to a group of Americans who were disaffected, who really felt that this country was leaving them behind. And he made these promises. And a lot of people were watching the reality TV show. And I get from a lot of people, it's like, oh, I voted for him, but I didn't think he was going to come after me.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I didn't think he was going to deport my wife. I didn't think that he was going to cut funding to my kid's public school.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Well, no, no, because he said he was going to do all of these things, right? He said he was going to cut the Department of Education. You know, people were saying, well, yeah, but we didn't think he was going to go after my special needs kids funding. Right. They just thought that it was all an act. Sure. And it's not. And it's not. And now people are being fired. They're losing their jobs.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
They're seeing the reality of where we are with the economy tanking, with us less safe than we were before. And they're realizing, oh, I made a mistake. That's just why you're seeing people talk about, I voted for him, but I wish I had. I made a mistake. And what Democrats need to do is talk to all of those people
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
and say, you know, Illinois, where I'm from, is 102 counties, only six are blue, 96 are red. And I go into the red parts of my county, of my state, and I say, listen, it's about loving this country. It's about putting America first. It's not about a guy who hugs the flag and then shits on America by starting trade wars and cutting funding for veterans. That's not what this is about.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
This is about making sure that we support our farmers who grow the food that we eat, a country that can't feed itself. It's not a country that can defend itself. This is about making sure that our male veterans have the services that they earn. This is about making sure our military has capable, competent leadership who knows better than to plan war plans on group chat, unsecured group chat.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
This is about putting America before yourself. And this president has never done that. And Democrats need to start talking to the heartland and talking to people and saying, We are here to fight for you and we're going to fight for you every step of the way.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
And that's why you're seeing folks like me getting out there, especially from the Midwest, talking about industrial America, about what we need to do to regrow our economy and what we need to do to stand up to this president, to make sure that we make those investments in this country and not in the oligarchy billionaires that he surrounded himself with, because that's all they care about themselves.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
I think it is. You know, when I talk to the ag sector, for example, they've seen body blows after body blows. Farmers tended to vote for Trump. But when I go to talk to them, they're like, well, these tariffs are killing. I'm not going to be able to hand my family farm off from my generation to the next generation. I'm the seventh generation. There will not be an eighth generation.
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
The tariffs are going to hurt me. John Deere is losing jobs because the steel coming from Canada is now going to be more expensive. And so they're seeing the difference. And we need to just continue to pull out those people together and let people understand that
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
China Strikes Back at Tariffs by Roasting JD Vance & Selling Out Luxury Retailers | Sen. Tammy Duckworth
The way that we make America great, greater than she already is, is to come together and work together, not by dividing us, which is what this president is trying to do.