David French: We Are in the Bad Multiverse
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Who is David French and what is his background?
Hello and welcome to the Bullard Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. I'm delighted to have back, favorite of the pod, opinion columnist for the New York Times, co-host of the legal podcast Advisory Opinions. His most recent book is Divided We Fall, America's Secession Threat and How We Restore Our Nation, an uplifting topic. It's David French. How you doing, David? Hey, Tim. It's always great to see you. It's good to see you too, man. You calm me for some reason. People know I've noticed that I don't cuss as much when you're on the podcast.
So that's a double victory for you as a guest. I'm glad to have that calming effect, Tim. I don't have it on everybody, I've found out. I've noticed that.
I want to start with Pete Hegg, Seth. There's this guy I follow on social media, Max Twain. I really like him because he's a rabid DeSantis supporter, way more conservative than me. But unlike like 99% of MAGA world, he does not go along with the Trump BS. It's like what you would expect from somebody living on Earth. Here's how he described the DOD nomination. I thought he put it quite well.
Why is Pete Hegseth considered unqualified?
Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified cabinet nominee in American history, and that's before accounting for all the rape and alcoholism. And so I wanted to start with you as a veteran, as a conservative, somebody that cares about this. You must feel like you're in a simulation that people are taking this seriously.
Yeah, it's nuts, Tim. I mean, And look, I'm not going to denigrate Pete Hegseth's service. He served honorably by all accounts. That's not the issue here. I served with a bunch of guys in Iraq who served honorably as well with more distinguished records than Pete Hegseth. They're more qualified to be Secretary of Defense. Than he is. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of veterans are more qualified to be Secretary of Defense than he is. There might be, Tim, 10,000 people in the greater D.C. area more qualified to be Secretary of Defense. I'm not exaggerating. I mean, he's a TV host. For eight years, he's been a TV host. He's been a TV host and an activist, and his activism... you know, according to the recent news reports was largely a failure because of his own failings. And so he ran small organizations that he's left. He hosts a TV show and his basic qualification is that he served, which good, good for him. Again, we honor that service. He served and he's super MAGA, super.
And he wrote a book. He wrote a book.
Yeah.
As two authors here, you know, we don't want to denigrate that work.
No, no, no. But no, it really is true. And I'm very glad you brought that up because the statement, aside from all of the alcoholism and the allegations and all of this. Yeah. One of the issues with Trump's, many of Trump's new appointees, putting aside all their scandals, if we can put those aside for the moment. Yeah, sure. A lot of them are just totally not qualified for the positions. Matt Gaetz, before he left, was absolutely not qualified. And I'm sorry, being an anti-vaccine sort of fringe nutrition activist doesn't qualify a person to become the head of HHS. I mean, this is, you know, what are we doing here? And I think that one of the things he could be doing, What he actually is doing, if all of these go through, is he's really planting the seeds of his own political demise. I mean, the majority of the people who voted for him were not voting for the MAGA extended universe. The majority of people who are voting for him were voting out of discontent with the status quo.
And if you roll in with a parade of incompetence, you're not going to improve on the status quo.
Yeah, I want to get into the political of it a little bit more as far as what the potential ramifications could be going forward, because I read your column on that point. I think it's interesting. I share that view that I think he's planting the seeds for his own demise, but I think there's some counter views that are worth discussing in a bit. But I just want to, on this nomination itself, just to kind of put a finer point on the ridiculousness. There was an exchange between Jake Tapper and Rick Scott yesterday, and this was on the personal allegations. But I want to play it just to show how wrapped around the axle the defenders of the Hegseth nomination are. Let's listen to Tapper.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Who is David French and what is his background?
0:08–1:13
2
Why is Pete Hegseth considered unqualified?
1:13–8:46
3
What are the implications of Kash Patel's legal threats?
8:46–17:08
4
How does the current administration handle preemptive pardons?
17:08–34:45
5
What are the risks of political nominations in the current climate?
34:45
6
How does the podcast analyze the intersection of politics and personal behavior?
22:36–46:04
7
What concerns arise from the Biden administration's potential actions?
46:04–1:02:15
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Bulwark Daily
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