All Episodes
Previous Next
March 24, 2025 - Triggered - Donald Trump Jr
01:03:38
A Champion's Welcome at NCAA Wrestling, Plus Interviews with Sen McCormick & Eric Deters | TRIGGERED Ep.227
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Hey guys, welcome to another huge episode of Triggered.
My father's approval rating is up while Democrats are just melting down.
As I keep saying, this is the 80-20 presidency.
Although, these days, honestly, it's looking a lot more like 90-10.
For example, in just a matter of weeks, the FBI has captured three men.
Three men on the most wanted list.
We're deporting more and more violent criminals.
And the Trump administration is moving our world one step closer towards actual peace instead of endless war.
And today, we're going to sit down with Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick to do a deep dive into everything that's happening inside the Senate.
And later, Eric Dieters, lawyer, Kentucky legend, great guy and friend, will join us to reveal a shocking and disturbing case.
Involving medical malpractice and the so-called Butcher of Pakistan.
So make sure you guys are liking, sharing, subscribing so you never miss one of these major episodes.
It's all of you who make this show possible along with our incredible sponsors.
So make sure to give them a shout out as well and check them out in the links below or later on when we're done watching this episode.
With tax day just around the corner, check out Tax Network USA.
Like I've always said, guys, we're cleaning out the waste inside the IRS.
But if you're still overwhelmed with back taxes or unforeseen, Tax Network USA is here to help.
Tax Network USA is the nation's premier tax relief firm and has negotiated over $1 billion in tax relief for their clients.
Their services include penalty forgiveness, Hardship programs and the compromise solutions for lump sum settlements.
So whether you owe $10,000 or $10 million, their experts are ready to assist you.
To schedule a complimentary consultation, visit TNUSA.com slash D-O-N-J-R.
That's T-N-U-S-A like Tax Network USA.
TNUSA.com slash Don Jr. and check them out.
And guys?
We have yet another brand new sponsor.
Stopbox USA.
If you own a handgun for self-defense, you don't have to choose between security and readiness.
And that's where Stopbox USA comes in.
With Stopbox USA Pro, you'll never have to choose between being able to quickly protect yourself in a time of crisis and leaving your weapon unsecured.
The push-button locking system It gives you fast, reliable access when every second matters without the hassle of keys or reliance on batteries.
It's 100% mechanical, so it works every time.
No power needed.
A firearm security at its absolute best and get your rapid access when you need it most.
And all Stopbox products are proudly made right here in the USA.
And traveling with peace of mind is easy.
StopboxUSA is TSA compliant.
So you can securely and conveniently transport your firearm through checked baggage during airline travel.
So to get 10% off your entire order, use code DonJr, D-O-N-J-R, plus buy one, get one free on their Stopbox Pro at StopboxUSA.com.
That's promo code DonJr, StopboxUSA.com.
Again, D-O-N-J-R on the promo code.
Save 10% off your entire order, and I think you'll love it.
Thanks a lot, guys.
Okay, guys, joining me now, co-author of Who Believed in You, which he wrote with his wife, Dina, Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick.
Dave, good to have you back, buddy.
Hey, Don.
Good to be with you.
So I guess I'll start by noting that Pennsylvania was truly the keystone state, not just in name, but in the November election this last time around.
You had an incredible campaign defeating a very well-entrenched political machine, and Bob Casey's been there for, like, longer than I've been alive.
30 years, yeah.
Okay, fine.
I'm a little older, but, you know.
But basically, most of my life that I remember, at least.
How is all of that translating into strategy and momentum in the United States Senate?
Obviously, you know, the way we look at a map in advance.
You know, this was the last kind of cycle.
We had a chance to, like, make some gains.
Although, you know, there's looking like there could be some other stuff coming on right now that didn't look quite as favorably two years ago.
What are you seeing in all of that in the Senate?
Yeah, well, I mean, it was, as you said, it was just an epic campaign.
And as you recall, it was my second one.
I had lost a close one by 900 votes.
And this one...
You know, your dad obviously spent a lot of time on Pennsylvania.
I think he was there 15 times.
And I was with him every single time.
And so I had a chance to campaign with him across the Commonwealth.
And a couple of things were happening.
It was a change election where your dad and I were talking about the same things, but essentially getting the country back on track, getting the economy back on track, inflation wildly out of control, a border wildly out of control, 4,000 fentanyl deaths, this incredible fight and attack on fossil fuels, which is incredibly damaging for Pennsylvania, law and disorder in our cities.
So your dad ran on that.
Change agenda, and I ran on that with him, and that resonated.
That was the first thing.
And of course, because your dad mobilizes people, the turnout was fantastic.
That was a big deal.
The second big deal is Pennsylvania's becoming red.
You know, we made huge progress in voter registration.
We made huge progress with mail-in ballot.
Your dad was part of that.
We put a huge amount of money into that.
And the reason I call that out is because that's going to be important for the future in terms of making sure Pennsylvania continues to be in the red column and the coalition your dad built.
Which was great turnout of African Americans, Hispanics, Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, the trade unions.
I'm at a trade union facility today, and the trades probably voted 65-70% for your dad and for me, despite the fact that the Nationals had endorsed Harris and Casey.
So it's that combination of things that led to the victory.
And in one sentence, I think the key to our success is delivering on the promises.
And your dad is, you know, going in a million miles an hour.
The rest of us are trying to keep up with him.
But that agenda that he promised and that I promised, we got to deliver on it.
And that's what's happening.
Yeah, I think it's a really good point.
I mean, you mentioned, you know, the first time you ran, you lost by 900 votes over the entire state of Pennsylvania, guys.
Just so we understand, like, these are, you know, basis points.
You know, right now, one of the things I got to actually just use this as an opportunity to create a little bit of awareness up in Wisconsin.
There's a really important Supreme Court seat that's coming up.
I guess it's like the first week in April.
And our people right now are just they're happy.
Like we're getting stuff done.
Doge is cutting the nonsense.
We're you know, we're winning.
We're trying to get peace talks going.
You know, so our people are sort of sitting there.
So you have this new Supreme Court race in Wisconsin that could literally tip the Supreme Court, which would then lead to redistricting, which could cost us two seats.
No one in Wisconsin that's conservative, basically.
You know, knows about it.
I went up there with Charlie Kirk, you know, last week on Monday, and it was like, I mean, the people were super excited about what was going on, but like so few people realized that, oh my God, like this could be a tipping point.
It's literally like the keystone of the Supreme Court.
It doesn't go right or left, which is going to be a major decision.
You have a radical leftist that wants men and women's sports, doesn't want us deporting, you know, criminal murderers and illegals.
And it's like...
They don't even know because they're happy with what we're doing.
We have two races in Florida for both Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz replacing those special elections also in April in Florida.
And we got polling back.
And it's like, if the districts knew that there was a special election, we'd win in a minute.
But there's two seats, like the old Matt Gaetz seat and the old Mike Waltz seat, that we could lose because people aren't even thinking about it.
They're not paying attention.
So that's a note to any of you.
If you know people in those districts, And you know I'm up in Wisconsin.
Make sure they get out and vote.
Because, like you said, an entire Senate seat could be lost by 900 votes over a big state like Pennsylvania.
Well, that's the thing.
And your dad helped us all by getting out the vote.
And he mobilized people and other people on the ballot were the beneficiaries.
That's not going to happen in the future.
Correct. Without Trump at the top of the ballot, it's not quite the same.
There are literally like...
Single vote Trump people, and we've got to not do that because every time you don't vote because Trump's not on the ticket, it doesn't matter.
There's a Democrat out there voting for someone whose agenda it is to make sure he doesn't get anything done.
So we have to stay engaged.
You're so right.
And in my case, there were seven swing states.
And we lost the Senate race in all six except Pennsylvania.
And your dad has a funny riff on this because he's introduced me a number of times.
He says, you know, I didn't think he could win.
I didn't know he could win.
And I won by 15,000 votes.
So just to your point, I mean, in these swing states, and I'm the 53rd vote, if I'm not there, Pete Hegseth doesn't get confirmed.
Yeah, no, 100%.
I mean, they had to, you know, I was dealing with that one heavily that day, too, from people on our own side.
They're like, well, we're just not, we're going to do your family a favor.
And I'm like, that's not helping my family.
I promise you.
Like, you know, not voting for our cabinet.
It's not doing my family a favor because that was the, you know, overusing the keystone.
But that was the keystone for all the other people behind it.
That was the first confirmation.
You lose that one.
All of a sudden, you know, the rhinos in the Senate become emboldened and they don't vote for anyone.
And you're stuck with that.
You end up with.
You know, like a first administration-type cabinet instead of the group of rock stars that we have right now.
That's right.
No, to your point, we've got to stay focused on solidifying what I say is solidifying the coalition that President Trump won with in 2024.
And in Pennsylvania, I'm working hard to do that.
And, you know, just what you said, I think it's going out on offense every day.
Here is the mandate for change, and we're delivering on the promises.
A good example of that.
When you see what's happening, it's clear that our spending is a runaway freight train, but our bureaucracy is a runaway freight train.
It's taken on a life of its own.
It's made decisions that are completely at odds with our voters.
And people say to me, well...
But there's a lot of good spending in there.
I'm sure there is good spending, but it's like when you go into a good restaurant and you lift up the plate.
At this point, I'm too much of a cynic.
There's probably not a lot of good spending.
There's some good spending.
But you lift up the plate in a good restaurant and you see a cockroach and it makes you not want to eat anything in the restaurant.
You lose faith.
And what I think is happening from Doge is that the American people are seeing some crazy stuff that their taxpayer dollars are being spent on.
They're saying, I have lost faith.
In the ability of this bureaucracy, these bureaucracies across the different departments, to allocate my precious tax dollars in a way that makes sense to me.
And you can't do this.
I mean, I was a CEO of two companies, Don.
You can't do this incrementally, 2% of the time.
You've got to be bold.
You've got to make drastic changes, and I think that's what's happening.
Yeah, for those who don't know, I mean, Dave was a serious business guy, very high level, dealt with real stuff.
One of the few people probably in the Senate that...
Actually understands how real business works, how the entire systems are there.
So, you know, I guess that maybe that leads me to sort of the next question.
Last week, you saw Chuck Schumer, I guess he was on The View saying, I mean, you know, people, they don't want to give the government half of their money.
Like, it's almost like they earned it without us.
And I'm like...
Oh, my God.
Like, he really thinks the government is like a 50-50 party.
Like, I don't know.
Government hasn't helped me much.
I know the government's tried suing me a bunch of times.
I know they've deposed me a lot.
So, you know, I guess they've built a couple of roads.
But, like, other than that, I don't think they've done all that much for me that, you know, is worth half of what I bring home.
But... It seemed like such a terrible mentality.
I mean, why would you want to create efficiency?
I mean, you don't deserve the choice of what to do with the money that you give us because you didn't earn anything without us.
And it's like, oh my god, they're saying it out loud.
It's like, Obama, you didn't build that.
It's like, actually...
I know they didn't build it.
It's the government because they've been too focused on Trans Elmo in Guatemala and Gay Sesame Street in Iraq for real.
Where do we go?
First of all, I think it's just that contrast between a guy who spent his entire life in politics and you grow up in the government and you're a hammer looking for a nail.
You think the government's the answer to everything.
You lose touch versus a businessman.
Like your dad who has a whole life of career of success of tough choices that can come in and say this is madness or Elon Musk who can say it's madness or somebody like me.
It's so antithetical, so crazy compared to the world that we know that you start to question everything.
I think that's the first thing.
The second thing that's happened is this progressive.
Ideology, it's become entrenched.
It's become ingrained in our government.
And it's one of the reasons when I was campaigning with your dad, I would say, and it's starting to happen, you not only need to downsize the government, you need to take these pieces of the government and move it out of Washington.
You need to put the Department of Energy in Pittsburgh, right?
Because that's where it's going to be in touch with the people it's actually trying.
And I think what happened with Chuck Schumer is just an example of why the Democrats keep fighting your dad on 80-20 issues.
And the reason they're fighting on 80-20 issues, which 80% of Republicans are with your dad, 87% of the country is with your dad, is because they're only hanging around with the 20%.
That's the world they live in is the 20%.
And that's why the Democratic Party, unless it has a real come to Jesus, is going to be lost for the next generation.
So, you know, I guess, you know, maybe the one guy, you know, on the Democrat side that sometimes actually speaks a little common sense is actually, you know, the counter co-part of the, I guess, the elder statesman in the Senate, even though he's only there, you know, a couple, two years before you, you know, John Fetterman.
Every once in a while he makes sense, and I made a lot of fun of him because I watched that debate with us, and I'm like, wow, this guy felt brain dead at the time, and maybe he wasn't, maybe he's recovered a little bit, maybe.
Maybe he's smart enough to tell people what they want to hear, which the Democrats often do.
They tell them what they want to hear and then they go do whatever sort of the special interests tell them.
But, you know, he has at times stood out as a reasonable voice in the Democrat Party, although when it comes time to vote, it's often a very different story.
You know, what's your relationship?
Like with the senior senator from the state of Pennsylvania, John Fetterman.
We're off to a good start.
We went and sat down and talked early in the first couple weeks, and he basically is very candid.
I trust him.
I think he's a very authentic guy.
I don't think he'll surprise me.
And he basically said, listen, we disagree on a lot, but there's a lot we agree on.
And he goes, I'm at the point in my life I almost died.
You know, like, I just want to get stuff done.
I mean, I'm not worried about...
You know, the politics so much is getting what I believe done.
And so on Israel, on anti-Semitism, on supporting your dad, for example, on taking the $400 million from Colombia, he has been a voice of reason on manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania.
He is a voice of reason.
You know, he was the first co-sponsor.
I just introduced a fentanyl bill.
That was one of the things I promised to create this focused multi-agency task force that would bring the focus and the accountability to China and Mexico and others.
He was the co-sponsor of the bill with me.
He says, listen, this fentanyl thing is out of control.
He supported your dad on the border where he said, listen, every month we have at least – no, every week rather.
We have the size of Pittsburgh coming across our border.
That's madness.
So on a lot of things, he seems to be in the right place, and I think he's going to be a good partner.
And some things we just totally disagree, and we just said, listen, we're not going to agree on everything.
So I think he's going to be a good partner.
He's still a Democrat, and he still believes a number of things on economic policy that I think are not what I believe, but I think he's a good, authentic man.
Well, listen, you obviously know a lot about economic policy.
You were in banking for a long time at a really high level, very successful.
So, you know, specifically, I know you're doing sort of a lot of work on, you know, the debanking with the Biden administration, really weaponizing the idea of reputational risk to basically almost incentivize banks to target conservatives.
How do we end that insanity once and for all?
I mean, I imagine anyone who's watching this show has dealt with it.
Anyone who's tried to buy a gun has dealt with it.
Anyone, you know, I mean, you were targeted by banks if you bought Bibles or anything model-related or within 1,500 miles of DC on January 6th.
How do you deal with it?
Because it does feel it was a totally one-sided attack on conservatives around the country.
It was definitely promoted and incentivized by the Democrats.
Yeah, well, there's legislation that Senator Scott just proposed to essentially take the whole idea of reputational risk off the table.
That's essentially what happened, which is we just had a closed hearing with the bank CEOs and with a bunch of regulators.
The regulators would factor in this thing they called reputational risk, and they'd give advice to the banks.
You know, you have to debank people based on that.
Of course, the banks weren't exactly a profile in Courage here either.
No, no, but if you were a trans-communist, you could have a credit score of negative 900 and like, wow, we'll give you a loan.
I mean, who cares if you don't pay it back or ever have the ability to do it?
We have to check off that box.
It was total BS, by the way.
Exactly. You got fault on both sides.
You have regulators pushing this idea.
You have banks succumbing to the pressure and just capitulating.
And so we've got to basically hold banks.
We have to take that off the table as an issue for banks.
And listen, I think there's been a lot of bad behavior across the board on this.
I think this was part of a broader woke agenda.
That was internalized by a lot of corporate CEOs.
They failed to stand up to this political pressure and they got themselves in a place where it was absolutely indefensible.
I did this meeting the other day with the Business Roundtable.
It was like 200 CEOs and they asked me, what advice do you have for CEOs?
I said, well, listen, let's be honest.
Nobody has to say anything.
Let's just be honest.
If all of you...
Could look back on the last five years and how you dealt with the culture wars and wokeness and all that stuff.
Wouldn't you want to do over?
Didn't you all handle that for the most part terribly?
There's some exceptions.
But didn't you for the most part handle that terribly?
And there was nobody who stood up and said, yes, I handled it terribly.
But I think the consensus was that they lost their way.
And banking was just another example of that.
Good behavior and hold them accountable when they're bad.
I think that's so important and something that definitely means a lot to so many of the people that watch this show because they've gone through it, including myself.
Last week on Capitol Hill, you also had, I guess, National Agriculture Week.
So Pennsylvania, along with many other key states like Wisconsin and Ohio, really have critical farming sectors.
How vital is it and how do we protect these industries and protect the American businesses around that, whether it be, again, from crippling regulations, foreign acquisition?
It seems to be such a big part of the Maha movement making America healthy, again, doing it organically with small farms, without big ag, without the chemicals in there.
How do we promote and get those businesses really rolling?
Oh, you're so right in Pennsylvania.
It's a $160 billion industry.
It's the number one industry in Pennsylvania, and it's the biggest employer.
And so we got poultry, we got broilers, we got egg layers, we got hog farmers, we got across the continuum.
And so, number one, food security is absolutely critical.
We learned during COVID.
What it was like to be dependent on China for semiconductors or for pharmaceuticals.
Man, we gotta control the food supply.
So we gotta own those farms.
China has been on a rampage of acquiring farmland.
One of the things I said in the campaign, in fact, your dad was there.
We had an ag event.
We both talked about not letting China and restricting China and other countries through the CFIUS process of buying, you know, the foreign investment process of buying farmland.
We've got to make sure foreign competition.
Is on a fair playing field.
This is where your dad's concept of reciprocity and trade is really important.
I was there the night that he hosted Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago.
I was at the table.
And Trudeau was saying, you know, listen, after they got through the 51st state thing, Trudeau was saying, listen, we're open to U.S. goods.
And I said, well, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Let's talk about dairy.
I'm from Pennsylvania, right?
So our dairy farmers can't sell any milk into Canada.
Because of all the non-tariff barriers.
Yeah, it's like almost 250%, right?
Yes. But what they do is, it's a catchy thing in the law, and the media doesn't do it.
I think the first case of milk, there's like a 3% tariff.
So you're like, okay, fine.
That seems reasonable.
Every case after that is like 250%.
So they basically, no, it's a 3% tariff.
It's like, no, no, no.
It's a 3% tariff if you only send one case of milk, right?
Exactly. It's something like Axanine like that.
It's not even an exaggeration.
Free security, stop foreign investment.
Make sure our farmers got a fair shot around the world.
And make sure we got good farm policy.
You know, Brooke Rollins, the Ag Secretary your dad selected, is just fantastic.
I talked to her yesterday.
She's coming to Pennsylvania in the next week or so.
She is going to be a leader on this, and she knows.
The kind of support our farmers are going to need to remain competitive and protect our food supply.
And, you know, I'm with you on the Make America Healthy Again movement.
I think that's a huge part of doing a lot of things, including reducing our health care costs, which, as you know, are ballooning out of control.
Yeah, but yeah, you get people healthy with natural foods, you're not having to take care of them forever, which, you know, doesn't exactly please everyone, but should please Americans.
Exactly. Dave, what steps do you think the Senate can take or, you know, how can you work with the executive branch to solidify some of our key supply chains?
You know, it's sort of interesting to me that if an American company wants to make a big acquisition in China or Europe, they push back on it.
It's basically impossible.
Try buying a Ford in China, whatever it may be.
Try manufacturing, you know, other than for export, which is also terrible.
For how far and for how long have we just let this go unchecked?
How do you get that back?
You had an incredible career in the private sector, in the banking sector.
What has that taught you about how government can address and encourage business instead of trying to undermine it?
Well, listen, I think the idea of bringing back Good paying jobs, good men.
You know, I grew up, listen, I grew up in a house where my mom and dad had both gone to college and got master's degrees and doctor degrees.
So I grew up thinking the only path to a career and a good life and so forth is to go to college.
And I have learned that college is probably not the right thing for even half the people, maybe a lot less, that there's great careers, great opportunity and skilled labor in making things.
And in America...
Due to decades of stupid policy, we've lost the capacity to make things.
We've lost the capacity because we've let foreign companies essentially savage our industries because of subsidies they've had or unfair trading practices or unfair labor standards.
We've let these skills diminish because we don't support with the GI Bill.
Skilled labor.
We don't support with Pell grants.
Skilled labor.
The kinds of things where a kid can go and become a welder and have an $80,000, $100,000 a year job in their early 30s, which helps them do whatever they want in terms of owning a house, the American dream.
So your dad is very much on the case.
It's going to require multiple things.
It's going to require getting control of inflation.
Because these businesses can't prosper if inflation continues to chew away at their profit.
It means fair trading practices, reciprocity, like your dad talks about, making sure the American worker gets a fair deal.
They get a fair deal, they're going to compete over and over again in a way that wins business.
Making sure we double down on skilled labor.
These great opportunities for a skilled workforce.
I'm trying to make a big focus, and your dad has promised to help me.
Of making Pennsylvania the place that energy and these big AI data centers come together.
Because welders, pipe fitters, steam fitters, those jobs that go along with those data centers are enormous.
Philadelphia Shipyard is another area where your dad's made a big focus and I'll make it a big focus.
These are the things we need to do to make sure that that manufacturing base, advanced manufacturing, becomes much more vibrant.
That's 100% right.
And, you know, I think you're right.
There's so many people that went to college and then they expect the plumber that did do the thing responsibly, that didn't take on, you know, half a million dollars to, you know, get a degree in gender studies, that, you know, did something that can actually pay out.
And then they want them to pay for the education that they sat there and wasted.
It's an incredible mentality, but I guess it's just so indicative of the left right now.
Yeah, no, that was a good one because you go on the campaign trail and you talk about loan forgiveness for these people, what the four-year college is and everything else, and the people paying for it are people that either paid off their loans or chose not to go to college and pursue a trade.
It was just absolute madness.
Again, it's an 80-20 issue.
Yeah, well, the irony was that the ones who couldn't figure out how to get by and couldn't figure out how to pay their loans.
They're the ones that consider themselves the elites.
I'm like, I don't know.
You don't seem that elite.
Like, you're a grown-ass person.
They can't take care of themselves.
I don't know.
Not all that elite after all.
I'd like to see them change some pipes in their house or something like that because then you'd see how far less elite they actually are.
I don't want to talk too much because I'm afraid if there was a pipe to be changed in my house, my wife.
My wife would be stuck.
The one thing that I have going for me from that perspective, I don't do much of it anymore, but just coming from a real estate family, my dad's whole thing was like, hey, if you're going to build a building, you better damn well know how to do it.
So we worked on jobs.
I've done all of it.
I'm probably not as good as I used to be, but I can do it all.
That's good.
That's good.
So Dave, as we look abroad, how do you sort of define the Trump doctrine?
What do you see as sort of the foreign policy mission?
We're seeing...
Countries in Western Europe attacking J.D. Vance, going after my father over Ukraine and Russia, while so many of these countries are just opening up their borders, destroying, essentially, in my opinion, their civilization, pushing censorship and eliminating free speech entirely.
How do you see it, and how do we stop that from metastasizing all over the world?
Yeah, you know, I've been thinking about that a lot within the context of the debate over Ukraine and all these other things.
And I think, you know, I listen very carefully to what your dad says.
I think there's some basic tenets that I hear him say over and over again, which I think define it, at least in my mind.
Number one is the concept, and I think it's absolutely critical, is peace through strength.
And the notion that America is going to be the most powerful economically, the most powerful.
Lethal military in the world, but a country that is going to use that power, military and economic, very judiciously, very carefully in pursuit of America's interest.
So the connection between what we do abroad and how it helps people at home is unequivocally clear to everybody.
That's the first tenet.
I think the second tenet is a fairness.
We talked about this in the context of trade, but it's in geopolitics, in military affairs, national security.
The idea that if America is going to offer its protection, if America is going to be the source of stability in Asia, in the South China Sea, or in Europe, is the foundation of NATO, that those with whom we protect, those with whom we ally...
Need to do their fair share.
They need to step up.
And deals we made 40 or 50 years ago to help people get off their backs after World War II are not the right deal of today.
And that the idea of entitlement that so many countries have around the world in their relationship with the United States, that connection has to be broken.
That's the second.
And the third is I hear your dad.
Laying out a vision in the United States of what common sense policy looks like in terms of creating a vibrant economy, in terms of making sure the American taxpayer are well protected, essentially getting rid of that progressive ideology that's entrenched itself.
And I think the other countries around the world, particularly in Europe, are many years, maybe decades behind.
Where that entrenched economic socialist philosophy or that progressive ideology is going to destroy their countries unless they are able to make the same turn.
And you see bright spots.
You see bright spots of conservatism popping up.
And I think those three pieces, we're going to project our ideals abroad by what we do at home.
We're going to have peace through strength, but with a focus on America first.
And we're going to make sure our allies step up and are true friends and allies, not entitled countries that take advantage of the United States.
That, to me, is what our president is talking about.
I think you were with him this last weekend.
You have a new column out about growing up in central Pennsylvania and the lessons you learned wrestling.
You wrestled at West Point.
Talk more about that and how did it relate to your book and how it's shaped your worldview.
Yeah, you know, I'm so glad.
I'm so glad your dad came for the Nationals here.
He had gone in Oklahoma.
This is the NCAA Division I Championship for college wrestling.
And, you know, during the campaign, the Penn State wrestling team is the best Division I sports team in history.
11 national championships in the last 13 years came up on the stage with him.
So your dad...
I grew up, you know, a part of Pennsylvania, you know, up near Scranton, wrestling in hot, smelly high school gyms called Shickalimmy and Shickshinny and Skooklehaven and Sealands Grove.
And man, you learn.
A lot about life and a lot about what makes America great, about hard work, about the courage to step into the ring.
It's six minutes.
There's nowhere to hide.
You learn about resilience because everybody has to fight through getting beat or everybody has to fight through getting taken down and show real toughness.
And you learn about respect because after you spend six minutes beating the tar at each other...
You have to stand up and someone gets their hand lifted in the air and you shake hands and walk off the mat.
So I think a lot of what's great about America, we see in those high school gyms in Pennsylvania.
And that's what the column was about in the Wall Street Journal.
And I think it's emblematic of, I think, the community and a set of ideals that your father really hit on the campaign.
And one of the reasons I think he has such a great following in Pennsylvania.
I mean, you also ran an ad during your campaign about how wrestling taught you to make the hard choices.
What are those hard choices right now in the U.S. Senate?
And what will your benchmark be for success in this Congress?
Well, you know, I've got a whiteboard in my office.
And on it, I have the top 10 things I promised.
A lot of the same things of your dad.
Some different things that were Pennsylvania-specific.
But a lot of the same things.
And I literally look at that whiteboard when I come in every time and say, OK, what are we doing on that?
OK, fentanyl.
We propose that.
Okay, term limits.
What are we going to do on that?
Okay, getting the economy back on track.
What are we going to do to have energy dominance?
What's the permitting reform agenda?
I'm looking at that list to say, hey, that's what I promised.
And I want to hold myself accountable to everything I promised.
That's the first and foremost, because I was very specific in the campaign.
Your dad was incredibly specific.
I was too.
I think he won and I think I won because people knew what we were going to do.
They had known him before and he had obviously done great things in his first term.
For me, I think they were betting on the promise.
So I want to deliver on the things I promised.
I want to help your dad deliver on his incredible agenda, is an important voice in the Senate.
And I want to be the guy.
That when Pennsylvanians think of my name, they say, that guy is everywhere.
He's fighting for us.
He's working for us.
You know, nobody's working harder.
And I want them to know, and this is genuine, Don, that I feel honored and privileged to do it.
I genuinely do.
I've had a great life.
I've been very fortunate.
I feel like this is really the honor of a lifetime to have this chance.
Well, that's awesome to hear.
So tell us a little bit more just about the book, why you wrote it.
Where can everyone go get a copy to check it out and learn a little bit more about the senator from Pennsylvania who's on our side of the fence?
Yeah, thanks.
This is a book that we wrote long.
This was during COVID, you know, when kids weren't going to school and all that stuff.
And we have six daughters, 24 to 18. They were a little bit younger then.
And we realized that they were not going to school.
Coaches, teachers, they didn't have any interaction.
And Dean and I started to talk about the fact that whatever success we've had in life was due to a couple key people.
These were the mentors that helped us become who we were.
And so we started to think about that.
And in my case, it was a football coach.
I was a sophomore in high school, not a particularly good football player.
I was sort of the benchwarmer.
And the coach got fired and a new coach came in.
And he watched all the films from the previous games, and I get pulled in on the last court or something.
And he came to me and said, listen, you've got real potential.
You're going to be the starting linebacker, but you've got to perform well in the camp.
And I worked my butt off in football camp that summer.
And at the end of, this is my junior year, at the end of that camp, he made me the co-captain of the team.
When I say this was shocking, this was beyond...
What I could have imagined.
And I went on and I became an all-state linebacker and everything else.
And that helped me get into West Point.
That guy changed my life.
He saw something in me that I didn't see in myself.
The same with Dina.
So we started to call people, some friends of ours.
Most of them very successful people.
And they all had somebody who had believed in them, who had helped them become who they are.
And so the book is about not the famous people.
It's about the people that helped make them famous.
Sarah Huckabee's in there.
She talks about a certain Donald Trump, your father, who, when she was getting the tar knocked out of her and all these horrible insults, pulled her aside and said, you're beautiful.
You have so much to offer.
You're so talented.
Go out there and don't let him see you sweat.
Made a huge difference to her.
Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, one of the most prominent CEOs in the world, he talks about this manager at Microsoft that pulled him out of obscurity, saw something special in him.
His name was a guy named Doug Burgum.
So over and over again, you have people that made all the difference.
And so the moral of the story is you don't have to be a famous person to change the world.
You can help by helping someone else.
Find their path to greatness.
And so that's what Dean and I wrote about.
And she had a great career in business and had created a number of big mentoring programs.
Very successful.
So the two of us decided to do it together.
By the way, if you could make it through a losing campaign, a winning campaign, and writing a book together and stay married.
That's a good sign for the future.
You're doing pretty good.
Yeah, that's a hard metric.
These are hard things to do, especially as a working couple.
And the book is the hardest.
The book is absolutely the hardest.
So tell us again, what's it called?
Where everyone can find it?
Yeah, it's WhoBelievedInYou, and it can be found at WhoBelievedInYou.com.
It comes out April 1st.
You can pre-order it on Amazon, and we think people are going to...
Help them think about, hopefully help you and others think about who believed in them.
The one theme that jumped out of this, all the people we talked to, we probably interviewed 25 people that are in the book.
Many of them said, man, I don't think I told them.
I wish I would have told them.
Now they're gone.
I wish I would have told them.
So anybody listening to this, if there's somebody who changed your life, now's the time to tell them why you still can.
Well, thank you very much.
I think that's great advice.
Senator Dave McCormick, thank you so much.
Really appreciate it.
Great seeing you, buddy.
And I'm sure I'll run into you somewhere on the road.
Looking forward to it, Don.
Thanks so much.
Be well.
And coming up, we'll cover a shocking medical malpractice scandal in Ohio.
Eric Dieters will join us.
Joe Biden's so-called Inflation Reduction Act is a disaster for America's seniors.
Democrats snuck in a provision to raid Medicare.
And fund green energy giveaways for their special interest donors.
But it gets even worse.
The Biden pill penalty is undermining the development of lifesaving pills.
We've already seen a 70% drop in the development of pill-based treatments since 2021.
The Biden pill penalty is a threat to our fight against everything from cancer to diabetes.
Joe Biden broke Medicare, but President Trump can fix it.
Call Congress and tell them to end the Biden pill penalty now.
Tell Congress to end the Biden pill penalty.
Take action and go to seniors4bettercare.com.
Again, that's the number 4 in there instead of the word 4. seniors4bettercare.com.
And now we turn to a major story.
That much of the media is ignoring.
It surrounds a scandal, a cover-up, and medical malpractice.
It's the true story of a medical terrorist, corporate healthcare greed, and a legal system plagued by corruption.
Here to explain so much more about that is the lawyer at the center of the story, the author of The Butcher of Pakistan, my good friend, radio host, lawyer, Politician delving into it, Eric Dieters, man of all trades.
Eric, how you doing, buddy?
I'm doing great.
It's great to see you again, Don.
Likewise. For those who don't know, Eric hosts one of the great events in Kentucky, a Freedom Fest there that just goes absolutely wild.
It's always a great time every year.
We doing that again this year, Eric?
It's September 6th, Don, and I hope you can make it.
And if you can, bring J.D. since he's right across the river.
That's right.
I mean, that's in Kentucky, but you're right there on the border of Ohio.
I mean, I guess a lot of the case that you're working on really took place in Ohio.
So, Eric, tell us, what is the book The Butcher of Pakistan about?
It sounds pretty gruesome, but it seems like it's a little bit more on our soil, not in Pakistan.
Correct. What the tale is, Don, and thank you for giving me this opportunity on your platform, is Dr. Atik Durrani came to the Cincinnati area in the 2000s, and he becomes a doctor at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
And from 2005 through 2013, at nearly every single...
Cincinnati Area Hospital, he performed unnecessary spine surgeries on unwitting victims, generally poor, including hundreds of children.
And the punchline to it all, Don, is that the hospitals knew what was going on and let it happen because he was doing such high volume of surgeries.
He was making them so much money.
They literally turned the other way.
He was the number one biller in Medicare, Medicaid of all orthopedics in the entire state of Ohio.
And it was kind of weird.
I found out by accident, Don, I had like seven or eight cases, and I do this press release and say, something's not right about this doc.
And one of the few times the local news covered it, and it went out there, and the next thing you knew, We had 580 people that were victims of this guy.
So that's the base point is what he did and what the hospitals looked the other way.
It is exhibit A of what's wrong in this country with corporate health care.
So what is the status of the legal battle for the victims of Dr. Durrani?
That's the next story.
You can't make this up, Don.
Your father, your father, because of all the hell he's been through with the legal system, could really relate to this, and I know you can because you went through it.
It has been, the massive cases were filed in 2013.
The Ohio Supreme Court, which, by the way, Filled with Bushites.
These aren't mega Republicans on the Ohio Supreme Court.
We don't have mega Republicans in the Ohio State Legislature.
There is a rule that the Ohio Supreme Court has that anybody who brings a case has three years from the time it's filed that it's supposed to be over.
Out of the 580 cases, there's only a couple hundred of them that are final.
So after 13 years of litigation, trying case after case after case, we're going to have another 10 years because the Ohio Supreme Court says, eh, we got that rule, but it's not going to apply to the Durrani victims.
Why wouldn't it apply to them?
What's special or different about this case?
No reason, Don.
No reason, except it's against the powerful health care lobby in the state of Ohio.
That's the only reason.
The health insurance industry owns the Ohio Supreme Court.
We're talking about millions and millions.
But get this, Berkshire Hathaway is the largest insurance company of, excuse me, not Berkshire Hathaway, Medical Protective is the largest insurer of doctors in the country.
Wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett.
There was a $40 million policy for the victims.
The hospital settled back in 2018-2019.
The Durrani victims would have averaged only $100,000 a person under this $40 million policy.
Medical Protective has chosen not to make a single offer despite us winning $360 million in verdicts.
It's insane.
I don't even understand at this point.
Well, let me explain.
Okay, so here's what happens.
So is it just that no one, like other than you, I guess, no one's willing to take them on, no one's willing to say this is BS, no one's willing to call it out, and just because of that, they can just be like, you know what, forget it.
I know that insurance companies, you know, delay, delay, delay, don't pay.
Right. That's what they're doing, Don.
What it is is they chose, they're so mad about what's happened to them, they're getting sued, that medical protective, there's only one reason, evil, cruelty.
They're saying, we're going to bankrupt Dieters, we'll have Dieters handle these cases all these years, and he'll run out of money.
They were banking on me running out of funds, running out of...
And we would never get to the finish line.
But they made a major screw-up.
And this is the big story right now, Don.
Medical Protective claimed they were not going to pay these claims because after Durrani was indicted and he fled the country, that he wasn't cooperating.
So for five years they told us.
Durrani doesn't want to cooperate so we don't have to pay on the policy.
We finally take Durrani's deposition by Zoom, like this in Pakistan, and why we're taking his deposition, that the call to prayers happens, his dog's barking.
I mean, it's a crazy scene, and he admits.
That he always wanted to defend the cases.
So for five years, Medical Protective has lied about it.
So now we have a, I'm not kidding you, it's a billion-dollar fraud case against Medical Protective for not paying these claims.
Warren Buffett bragged he gave $5 billion away last year to charity, but he won't tell Medical Protective to pay these poor people $40 million.
But it's classic insurance, Don.
You've been through it.
All Americans go through it.
They feel like they can defend, delay, deny, and they thought they were going to, you know, bankrupt me, and I always find a way to keep this thing going.
It costs me $2 billion a year, Don, to keep this litigation going, and I'm still going after 13 years.
But we're going to get them.
And thanks to you for bringing this to the public, because the local news media won't cover it, Don.
Yeah, you told me the story when I was in Kentucky and I was like, I don't even understand.
How can I...
No, but it's like, it's wild.
I mean, how do you not protect a victim of like a faulty or unnecessary spinal surgery?
You don't do anything for it.
You just sweep it up.
You know, and I guess, I don't know.
The mindset is just like so many of just...
Well, you said it's a poor demographic.
They don't have the soapbox or the power to do anything about it.
So sweep them under the rug and let's move on.
And it's sick, man.
It's a sad thing because it happens, I'm sure, not just here, but all over the country in so many other fields.
Right. One of the things, and I brought this to your attention, I remember down at your house one time, because I think it was a big issue when your dad was running against DeSantis because Florida passed tort reform.
I said, you know, I always...
I love your dad.
One of the things I like about your dad is he's the only Republican to ever run, because he's not an establishment, that never brought up the words, we need tort reform.
And what goes on, Don, and it's the negative publicity out there in the news stations, but the hospitals and the insurance companies, they own the politicians, they own them, and they're big law firms, they own the media, so the media doesn't want to do anything.
To go crosswise with them.
So these poor people and I get left out in the dark.
So the only way we're going to get publicity for this to bring pressure on medical protective and to let the world know what terrible things that they're doing is through these platforms like with you.
But it doesn't make sense except the cruelty of it all.
They can get away with it, they think.
So, they do it.
It's so sad.
And these people, Don, I don't know about you.
You're younger than me, but I'm pretty healthy.
Hell, I get a toothache.
I'm freaking miserable.
These people have constant, daily pain.
And some of them have so much pain.
They turn to heroin.
I've had them in meetings say, hey, Eric, would hurt my case if I turned to heroin?
I said, listen, you take care of you.
Whatever you got to do to relieve that pain.
I mean, I can't imagine having a messed up spine.
And you guys have shown the scars before.
I mean, the scar, your producer, the scars of all these people is just wicked.
I mean, he didn't care.
You know, he didn't care how they looked, you know.
It's just, that's why we called him the Butcher of Pakistan.
I mean, and somebody said that was racist.
And I said, it's not racist.
If he was from England, I'd call him the Butcher of England.
And you know what's wild, Don?
This happened all the way back in 2009.
But he is a DEI hire.
They wanted to bring in somebody, a foreigner from Pakistan.
And Children's Hospital, where this happened, is the so-called number one ranked hospital in the country.
And right now, I got inside sources there.
You're going to love this, because this is relevant to the day.
A nurse told me that they are trying to get away from your dad's DEI requirements, that they're going to cut off funding, that they're trying to disguise it at Children's Hospital.
Oh, I believe that.
They'll get rid of the department, but the policies will still be the same.
They'll just be unwritten, and they'll be doing it.
I love that they're going after it.
You've got to start somewhere.
But, yeah, you've got to stay all over this stuff because I'm sure they're not going to change a damn thing.
The whole thing's wild.
Eric, what do you want everyone across America just to know about this story?
I mean, I can't imagine this is the only one.
What are the other consequences you faced for taking on this case and telling the story?
And, you know, you know me well enough.
I'm not always, you know, for the trial lawyer side, I'm usually not because they're usually trying to screw me or someone, you know, but when you have literally hundreds...
Of victims.
It's then proven that they didn't need a spinal surgery and you had someone just go in there and do it because it was billable hours.
That, you know, that's one of the most reasonable people can be like, I'm actually for the trial lawyers in this one.
I think the reason why you and I get along is we're a lot alike in our personalities.
You know, we're just, we're who we are.
I like it, yes.
And I always say you're my favorite Trump because you're just real.
And I love Eric too, but he's more docile than you and me.
But get this.
This is so wild.
I'm like a man without a party because I'm all mega.
The Republican establishment, Don, is 1,000% for the hospitals, the corporate healthcare, and everything else.
And it's not a negative doctor.
I'm pro-doctor.
You ask any doctor in this country, it's the corporate healthcare suite.
But here's what happened to me.
When I took this on, the whole establishment came after me because...
I'm the only guy I know in the greater Cincinnati area that does plaintiff's work that is pro-Trump.
I mean, because...
The trial lawyers are very...
They're all Democrats.
They're all Democrats.
It's literally one of the largest Democrat funding blocks in...
John Morgan.
John Morgan, Exhibit A. You know, Morgan and Morgan.
Because they don't care about their country.
See, the plaintiff's bar...
Just so you know, Doc, the plaintiff's bar are the most greedy.
They act like they take care for the...
No, no, no.
They are greed, greed, greed.
And at the other end of the spectrum, you've got this defense delay and deny.
And in the middle, you've got good old me who's like, wait a minute.
I love my country and I would rather have...
Donald Trump appointing Supreme Court justices that save our country than writing laws that are just going to protect, you know, they call them the whiplash case.
And that's really important, Don.
You know, like the whiplash case gets the, because, oh, were you really hurt?
I mean, I've been hit from behind.
I didn't file a case.
But we're not dealing with these so-called frivolous lawsuits.
These are people.
We win 80% of our trials.
How we lose 20%, Don, I don't know who those jurors are.
But you usually lose, Don, 95%.
Of a medical malpractice case goes to trial.
We're winning 80%.
It proves the merit of these cases.
But here's what's happened to me.
I've almost went broke.
I almost went bankrupt.
I got banned from the courthouse and banned from the courtroom.
You know what I said?
When they were burning down the courthouses, I said, what do we have to do to get trials?
Do we have to burn down a courthouse?
So the judge goes...
Dieter's a threat to courthouse.
I'm banning him from the courthouse.
And then I stood in front of this judge, and I called him evil for not giving these people for trial, and they threw me in jail for 15 days.
I served eight days at the Hamilton County Justice Center.
So, you're kidding me?
Listen, I hear you like model street right now.
Are you really, if they haven't thrown you in jail for BS?
But, Eric, you said Ohio requires every civil case to be over in three years.
The proceedings have gone on for over a decade.
I mean, do you not have, like, a claim against Ohio itself?
I mean, you know, beyond the medical system, beyond the insurance companies, beyond the hospital, beyond the doctor, I mean, can't you force that?
I don't understand how they can create an exception to their own written rules, but I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone.
Here's the answer.
We filed a federal lawsuit about that.
And the federal judge said, it's a state issue.
I can't do anything.
So we filed in the state board of claims, we filed a claim against the state of Ohio.
And they ruled that, nah, nah.
So it goes to the first district court of appeals.
This just came down yesterday.
We appealed it to the Ohio Supreme Court.
And in the brief, we said, does the Ohio Supreme Court really?
Not going to accept this case and decide the issue of whether or not you have to comply with your three-year rule.
And they didn't take the case.
They didn't take the case.
They claimed, well, that's just a Supreme Court guide.
It's not binding upon us.
But this is how sick these people have been treated, Don.
If you filed a lawsuit anywhere in the state of Ohio for any claim...
In 2009, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, all the way up to 2021, your case would be over.
But not the 580 Durrani victims.
The 580 Durrani victims have been mistreated, not just by medical protective, not just by the healthcare system, but the entire Ohio legal system.
And this is the latest crazy thing.
You can't make this up.
The Ohio legislature voted 100% of the time, 100 of them voted, and DeWine, you know DeWine, DeWine signed the law that said that when a guy flees the country, it's not going to toll the statute of limitations.
So the entire legislature in Ohio, Republicans and Democrats, and the governor, unanimously passed a law that could call it the Durrani Flight Act that says, if a doctor flees the country, too bad for the victims.
I mean, you can't make that up.
But it's true.
Well, you know, the press isn't there.
No one's gotten to see it because they're not willing to cover it.
So hopefully, Eric, this gets us a little bit closer to all of that.
I just feel terrible for these people.
Man. It sucks, but I appreciate you having the guts to do that.
Thanks for all you do, you know, just in this fight.
You're the best, and I'm sure we'll be in touch in the not-too-distant future, Eric, as you see the latest developments.
So I wish you the best of luck with all of it for those people.
Thank you, Donnie.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks, buddy.
Great seeing you.
Good seeing you.
Guys. Thank you guys.
I will talk to you all again very soon.
Oh yeah, and don't forget...
If you don't get us here on Rumble, you can get us on Spotify.
You can get us on iTunes podcast.
Check it out there.
Share it with your friends, especially if they get their podcast that way.
▲
Export Selection