This Week Unfiltered w Rick Wilson | 01.22.26
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome, everyone, to Truth in the Barrel Unfiltered this week. I have a special co-host, Rick Wilson. Rick is a longtime political strategist, former Republican, author, very distinguished career working in and around the political arena. Welcome, Rick. Are you coming to us from Florida?
I am coming to you from Florida today. We're about to get winter again here, where it plunges down into the 50s.
Into the 50s. Oh, my gosh. Do you even have a coat in Florida?
Oh, I have coats. I mean, I travel so much. I have to sort of be equipped for everything, unfortunately. Yeah.
Well, we have the big storm coming. We know that. Everybody's hunkering down, going to the grocery store and getting ready for it. Certainly here in Kentucky, we have all kinds of models that show us kind of smack dab in the middle of this thing.
Right. You're going to get ice and everything else. My daughter lives in Nashville, and she's like – She's like, we're going to get two inches of ice. I'm like, run. Come here. Run now.
People don't know how to drive.
No. God, no.
Well, thankfully, Rick, we did not go to World War III this week while our president was in Europe. I first want to start out here. I'm laughing, but I'm sort of crying at the same time. I first want to start out here with Europe. impressions of what happened at Davos. And Davos, by the way, for people listening, is the annual international economic forum in which many world leaders attend. And there this week, our president gave a rambling speech, you know, but I feel like it was more damaging than his normal campaign speech in Pennsylvania. So, Rick, your thoughts on how our nation's leader handled himself overseas.
Look, it was a catastrophic speech for the Western Alliance, catastrophic speech for American security, catastrophic speech for the dignity of the presidency. This is a very old, sick man who went out there and just started talking. If grandpa did this or dad did this, he'd say, okay, time to take the keys because it was chaotic and self-referential and abusive to our allies. And, Amy, I think one of the things that really struck me about it was just his contempt for the sacrifices of our allies. You and I both know that folks – the only time that Article 5 has been invoked was after 9-11, and they came to fight by our sides.
Right.
Around the world. And it's I just it was a real I mean, it's it's hard to say. Oh, Trump was disappointing. He's always disappointing. But this was a this was a real low point for him and the country.
And that was the thing that hit me too. I mean, there was so much craziness about what he said and how he acted and what he was saying prior to the trip. But the attacks on our allies, Trump going there and saying that NATO never did anything for us. This is so offensive to the nations who fought with us after 9-11. I did two tours in Afghanistan, Rick. I deployed to camps with troops in tents next to me from the UK, from Spain, from Denmark, from France, Germany. I flew missions alongside French fighter jets there. that were there with us, as our wingmen. Denmark had one of the highest casualty rates of any of our partners over there.
Per capita, they were the highest of any of our Native partners.
Yeah, and it's just such a slap in the face to them, but also to us, those of us that fought, Americans who fought in those wars, because it shows that the president is either ignorant or doesn't give a shit about the sacrifices that were made for our country.
Both can be true, unfortunately, right? Yeah. He can be a callous, heartless asshole, but he can also be somebody who just has this, like, what I call the cinematic version of the American military in his head. It's battleships and big, strong men, and it's, you know, I... It would be clownish if it wasn't so tragic.
It is clownish. But I'm interested, what do Reagan Republicans think right now? I mean, are they cool with this?
What were the highlights of President Trump's Davos speech?
I mean, I guess I kind of fall into that category. I came into politics after Reagan, but just at H.W. Bush in 88. So I have enough of a foot in that world to know that the disappointment –
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:28
2
What were the highlights of President Trump's Davos speech?
4:28–19:55
3
How did Reagan Republicans react to Trump's speech?
19:55–26:02
4
What are the implications of tariffs on U.S. trade?
26:02–45:32
5
What is the current state of NATO's resilience?
45:32–49:15