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Jan. 26, 2025 - Stew Peters Show
01:03:29
Is Doug Collins the Leader Veterans Need for a New Horizon?
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The first full week of Mr. Trump's return to office has come to a close.
And I think that if you are not aware of anything that has happened this last week, the things that he has done in his first week in office, you might be living under a rock or you're purposely avoiding it.
And if that's the case, That's okay.
There were some pretty interesting things that happened.
One of them being, by the way, off topic.
Well, let's get into the show.
Let's finish the intro first before we get down goat trails.
One of the things that happened this week is that we got a new secretary of the VA. Mr. Doug Collins was confirmed.
So today we're going to have a little conversation about that.
And so I have some other thoughts.
Maybe we'll get to, maybe we won't.
But I kind of wanted to talk about Doug Collins' confirmation hearing and the points of conversation, the questions that were asked, and just kind of to get an overall feel of what it is that we are allowing to walk into.
The Secretary of the VA. So don't go away.
We are going to discuss this at length.
So stick with us.
Don't go away.
We start now.
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Okay, so we had Doug Collins.
Doug Collins got confirmed as the new secretary of the VA. And I don't have a negative feeling about the guy.
I don't have a negative feeling about the job that he may do.
Given the conversation that was had during his confirmation hearing.
But it was a crazy week, man.
I mean, just all the things that President Trump has done.
And then they kind of just snuck in the Secretary of the VA confirmation hearing.
Maybe in the grand scheme of things for a lot of people.
Confirming this guy, the secretary of the VA, is not, like, a top of the priority list for things to be informed about.
Unless you're a user of the VA, unless you're a veteran, or unless you're a supporter of a veteran, or you're a soldier or a service member about to get out, or you're just a person that wants to know.
That the men and women who wore a uniform for this country are going to be taken care of and how?
And so, whatever one of those camps you fall in, I guess it doesn't matter.
But by the way, how excited, how excited are any of you to read about RFK, JFK, but for me,
more importantly, MLK. And maybe this is like super naive of me and super ignorant of me, but I never really had this idea that there was a thought that the government may have been behind the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Maybe
the government was behind it.
I don't know.
I'm really interested to read all of it.
I'm grateful.
I'm grateful that President Trump thinks that it's important enough that the people know.
Instead of more secrets on top of more secrets on top of more secrets.
I think that the American people should see this as a way for Donald Trump to kind of confirm what he's been saying.
That the government's been too big and too strong and too secretive and too one-sided and not for the people.
So maybe this is a way for him to kind of further that narrative.
And so I'm excited for that.
So anyway, let's move on.
Doug Collins.
Doug Collins is a member of Congress, or was, at the beginning of last week.
He's now the Secretary of the VA. I want to say it was Tuesday or Wednesday he sat down with the Senate VA Committee for his confirmation hearing.
And I think that he did a really good job at answering questions and being present and being enthusiastic about the job.
He talked a lot about leadership.
He talked a lot about care for veterans to make sure that the VA is following the law and that their primary focus Is the care of the customer.
In this case, the care of the veteran.
Whatever that takes.
And there were a lot of questions being thrown out at him about community care.
Community care, community care, community care.
And so if you don't know about this community care, what it is is there are rules in place that allow veterans who are under VA care But live too far away maybe from a VA facility to make it reasonable for them to regularly attend medical appointments, whether they be mental health, physical health, or otherwise.
Physical therapy, any kind of specialty appointments, eye appointments, you name it.
If you live...
A certain distance away from the VA facility, you qualify.
The other part of it is, if you call to make an appointment, I got to or had to use community care, maybe it was two years ago, I needed a new and updated prescription for my glasses, so I called the VA because you're allowed one eye exam a year, and I called to make an appointment, but they were like four and a half months out for an appointment.
So by the rule, if they can't get you in in X amount of time, they have to allow you to go to community care.
So then they send you to a different person to talk on the phone.
And they find someone in the community for you, a clinic, or in this case an eye clinic.
They call and they schedule you an appointment.
And you show up, just like any other patient, and you get your eye exam.
You sign the paperwork.
You know, whatever they have you sign as a regular patient.
You do your thing.
You grab your prescription.
And, of course, they're going to try to hit you up to buy some glasses there, right?
Like every other eye clinic.
And then you leave.
And the VA pays the bill.
And so, for a lot of...
For a lot of VA workers, mainly, in my opinion, mainly VA workers who are part of a union, which is virtually all of them, they don't like this rule.
They don't like this rule because it is allowing veterans at pretty large rates To go out in the community to receive care, which means there's a lot fewer veterans coming in to VA facilities.
Which, if you can understand where this is going, less people in the facility, less people getting care from VA doctors or VA services, less need there is for VA doctors and VA services.
And so then there becomes issues of staffing.
And because it's a federal agency, they don't really say, well, okay, so in Indianapolis, we're good on staff.
We're not overstaffed.
We're not understaffed.
In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, or Jackson, Mississippi, or whatever, We're severely understaffed.
We're about 20% understaffed.
And then you go to some place like Phoenix, and they're going to say, well, we're 20% overstaffed.
And so then they're going to try to equal out the numbers.
So they'll either do a hiring freeze of sorts, and it kind of affects the whole agency.
Now, I'm not 1,000% sure that they'll do, well, hey, why don't we just...
Do a hiring freeze in Mississippi, but we need to hire more people.
Or we'll do a hiring freeze in Phoenix, but we'll hire more people in Mississippi.
In Indianapolis, we're not going to hire nobody because they're good.
So the only place we're going to look for employees is Mississippi.
Well, because it's a federal agency, it doesn't always work out that way.
I think that's the intent.
But whenever any federal agency has some sort of hiring freeze, in one way or another, it affects the whole agency.
And so the argument becomes, between the unions and the VA proper, well, we've got to stop allowing community care because now our workers aren't getting as many hours because there isn't any work.
The funding is becoming an issue.
We're not going to get as much money because we don't have as many people.
We don't have many veterans coming in, which also dictates the amount of funding for staffing.
There's some formula somewhere that states if you have X amount of patients per quarter or per year, this is the amount of funding you get.
And with this amount of funding and this amount of patients, this is the amount of staff that you're...
Allowed to have.
And I'm sure there's like a 3-5% variation that you have to be within, if I had to guess.
But all these senators at this confirmation hearing, and I shouldn't say all of them, but a large number of them, were all very concerned about Doug Collins' view and intent On keeping community care an option.
And so then it gets people thinking, I would imagine, it gets people thinking about what's the motivation.
And his response, in my opinion, was perfect.
His response was, well, we need to always make sure that there's a Veterans Administration, that there's a VA for veterans coming out of the military to go and get care.
But a community care option is also something that is needed.
And it is needed.
It is needed in places like Alaska, where their land is vast.
And Alaska probably has quite a few veterans, if I had to guess.
Montana.
I mean, people live pretty rurally in Montana.
Idaho.
Oregon, probably.
The Dakotas.
Down in Kansas.
Nebraska.
I mean, all these places that have lots of land.
And people just, they want to be out in the countryside and left the hell alone.
Well, they still need medical care.
And so for folks that are way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, that live 400, 300 miles from a VA facility, But maybe live 70 miles from their local hospital.
Well, then community care makes sense.
Go to 75 miles of hospital.
Don't worry, we'll pay the bill.
But see, now that if I'm putting the ends together correctly, this becomes a problem for unions, of course, because their workers are bitching about You know, pay rates maybe, and hours worked, and staff is getting cut places, and there's hiring freezes now, and the places that are understaffed are not hiring more folks, so they're getting overworked.
And people are quitting because it's not worth a 60-hour work week when you're making, you know, I don't know.
I guess it depends on your location, but if you're making, 18 bucks an hour.
And you gotta work 70 hour weeks.
People don't like that.
Because it still doesn't help you get ahead because everything's so damn expensive.
And when a guy can go, can leave working for the VA, let's say he's a custodian at the VA, he can...
He can quit cleaning the floors at a VA hospital and he can go to the local community college, let's say, and clean the floors there and make $8 more an hour.
Well, you better believe he's going to go where he can make more money doing the same job and maybe even have similar hours.
And then he doesn't have to be overworked and feel like he's being underpaid.
And certainly probably feels like he's underappreciated.
And so that becomes the sticky point.
But there's a whole lot of other issues at the VA. There's a whole lot of other programs.
There's a whole lot of other veterans that have specialty care, education stuff, work programs.
I mean, there's just a lot of stuff.
So when we talk about a baseline of care, that's just the beginning.
That's just the beginning of it all.
But anyway, I think that I have his opening statement.
I saved it.
Because I'd like to just display...
Doug Collins for you if you don't know who he is and just kind of his personality and who he is, right?
And so let's check him out here real quick.
I think it's like three minutes.
Well, hold on a second.
Hold on a second.
We're having technical difficulties.
I don't want to be going through all that.
And then we didn't get it.
We'll do it in the second segment.
There was only one senator on the whole committee of both Republicans and Democrats that was tossing shade at this guy.
And her name was Senator Herino, I believe was her name.
I didn't catch what state she was from.
But she was so stuck on the fact that the VA should be paying for and performing abortions for female veterans that would like to have them.
And the one thing that Doug Collins did throughout his whole time in front of this committee And his actual committee hearing ran about 2 hours and 45 minutes to 3 hours.
He said multiple, multiple times.
We are going to follow the law.
Any specific issue or program or...
Entitlement or benefit or anything like that, such as abortion.
He says, well, we're going to take the policy and then we're going to read the policy and then we're going to read the law.
And if the policy is not in accordance with the law, then we're not going to do it.
There is a law that says the Department of Veterans Affairs will not supply and perform abortions.
Now, recently, in the last couple of years, there was something put out that was a workaround or an exemption of some sort or something.
But his commitment was, yeah, we'll look at it.
If it goes against the law, we will not be doing that any longer.
If it does not break the law, well, then I guess we'll be doing it.
And so the thing that I appreciated about his testimony was that his answers all seemed pretty cut and dry.
If this, then that.
He doesn't seem to have or at least speak about when he is discussing doing the job of the secretary of the VA. He doesn't talk about his opinion.
He doesn't talk about his feelings.
He talks about what the statutes say or the regulations and what the law says.
And I find myself thinking about it and going, well, why is this a new concept?
Why is it new?
If secretaries before Doug Collins were just doing what the law says, Then why is there all this upheaval surrounding the VA at times?
And if secretaries are doing what the law says, why are veterans dying waiting for care?
Why are they becoming more sick waiting for care?
And if the rules and the regulations And the laws aren't written and put into place and orchestrated and all those things in the proper way that aren't conducive to successful outcomes in veteran care, then why have we gotten this far without changing them?
My question would be, what have those hurdles been, and who has been in opposition of rewriting legislation, changing laws, changing policies, so that veterans are not finding themselves in worse situations after dealing with the VA? What are those things,
and what are those conversations, and how are they happening, would be my question.
And we know, I mean, we talked to, I shouldn't say we, I talked to enough veterans who have had positive experiences at the VA. In fact, there's quite a few positive stories about the VA. I'd be lying if I said that every interaction that every veteran has at the VA is horseshit, because that's not true.
I think that there's a lot of people that have positive experiences.
And I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
There are some really, really great people.
Fantastic people that work.
At these facilities, they work at these hospitals, they work at the CBOX, they work at the specialty clinics.
They do have great people that work there.
The frontline staff, in my opinion, about 97% of the frontline staff that I've ever interacted with while receiving care there have been great.
But I think it's when you get above I would say even above the director of hospitals, for the most part.
And maybe even some hospital directors are pretty crooked.
Who knows?
I just so happen to know some of the people at my local VA hospital that have a couple...
I mean, not the director, but people that are a little bit higher up, and they're great.
They're great people.
But I think once you get above the director of the hospital and you get into like vision levels and you get out to D.C. and into that building in D.C. which is almost directly across the street from the White House if I remember right.
Well, those are the folks who I think have forgotten.
Maybe.
Have forgotten who their customers are.
And have forgotten the promise that was made to those men and women years and years and years ago.
I think some of those people have been blinded by their ability to possibly gain a little bit more power.
Or find a position that's going to pay a lot more.
Or both.
I mean, if you've been watching the show for a while, and you remember our seven or eight week series on the VA Family Caregiver Program, that monster, that monster goes deep.
And it doesn't just stop with the VA. And it still, to this day, doesn't seem to have been fixed.
That bottom-dwelling lizard Meg Cabot, even though she's...
Moved on from the VA now because Trump came in office.
Did a whole lot to just fuck everything up for those people.
Still.
Again.
And who knows where she'll come up for air.
But their lives haven't gotten any better.
To the best of my knowledge, it's only gotten more complicated.
But in this confirmation hearing, We didn't hear anything about any specialty programs, any specialty clinics, anything like that.
We're a little bit about the PACT Act, maybe because that's the new fancy thing.
But all these other programs that are kind of off in the wings, that really nobody really knows about until you need them, or you know somebody that's trying to use them, or who is using them.
They're not advertised.
They're not very widely used.
But they're very important and they're very expensive.
The VA Family Caregiver Program in 25, if I remember right, their budget just went up to like $30 billion or something like that.
And hardly anybody knows that this thing even exists.
But people like Elizabeth Dole is lying in her pockets and all of her little cronies and all these civilian non-profits that claim to do all these things for veterans that are staying in their homes and doing better than the family members of the veterans that have committed their lives to take care of these men and women.
People like Meg Cabot.
And other bottom dwellers at the VA thought it'd be better to push wives and husbands and kids and grandchildren and best friends and cousins, whoever the caregivers for these veterans are, push them aside.
Cut out their stipend for taking care of their veteran day-to-day needs, every day, all the time, to bring in some The contractor that comes for a little bit, does a few things, and then leaves.
And the VA pays them way more than they pay the family members to do day-to-day stuff.
There's wives out there giving their husbands blood transfusions in their bedrooms.
And doing high-level medical shit that they've been trained to do for these veterans because this is where they best receive their care.
And now we're getting off into the weeds on the caregiver program, but I'll tell you what, folks, we could probably do another eight-week session on it and still not barely even scratch the effing surface.
These people are being railroaded, and it is...
Extremely sad.
Because what are they told?
By the program and the powers that be?
Well, you know, we're doing the best that we can, and if it's not enough, you may have to bring your veteran to adult daycare while you go to work.
When for some of these ladies that I've read about, Wives.
They don't work.
They're at home with their husbands, taking care of them.
Making sure to bring them to their doctor's appointments.
Making sure that they take their medication.
Making sure that they're safe when they have seizures.
Making sure they get their blood transfusions.
Making sure that they're safe when they get up to go to the bathroom.
Making sure that they eat.
Making sure that they do whatever it is that they need to do to get through the day.
They've been pushed aside and told you may have to get a job and your husband may have to go to adult daycare because the contractor we're paying more for than we're paying the wives to take care of these people are only there for a few hours.
A couple days, three days, four days a week or something.
It's ridiculous.
But none of that got talked about.
And Doug Collins' confirmation hearing.
It's not his fault.
Doesn't make him a bad guy or unqualified.
But I just found it interesting that some of the veterans who are the most in need, who are getting the most screwed over, are the ones that never get talked about.
And it's not his fault.
It may not even be the senators that are questioning him.
It may not even be their fault.
Maybe they just don't know.
Because it's all kept very quiet.
Because there's a lot of money.
Being pushed around.
But what everybody doesn't really understand is that while all this money and power is being pushed around, veterans are being pushed into the gutter.
Veterans have committed suicide over this program because they were getting rejected and their families were going to be destitute.
And they thought that their families would be better off without them.
That's how bad this one program, just one program, is for some people.
But it never gets talked about.
We've got to take a break.
Stick with us.
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Hey folks, welcome back here after the break.
um There's one thing I wanted to clear up from the first segment.
I was talking about the VA Family Caregiver Program and how they just increased their budget to $30 billion.
I was wrong about that.
I got overzealous.
It's $3.2 billion, so quite a bit less than $30, but still a lot of money.
$3.2 billion is what their budget is for 2025. Okay, so let's, I want to show you, I got Doug Collins' opening statement figured out.
I want to just show it to you.
And the reason for that is just to show you the kind of guy that he comes off to be.
Because I believe that it's, he even just comes off a different dude than Secretary McDonough was.
The guy that he's replacing.
So let's just take a look here.
It's just a few minutes.
Here you go.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Blumenthal, the rest of this committee, and the Steemers Committee, and looking around this committee, seeing people that I've worked with before on both sides of the aisle, and it's good to see you, and especially to the new members as well.
I'm honored to be sitting here to be the nominee for the next Secretary of the VA. I'd like to thank my friend Kevin Kramer for that kind introduction.
I appreciate his work, and I appreciate your work as well.
He hit it perfectly.
It's about the vet, and I thank him for that.
I'd also like to thank President Trump for his nomination and for his willingness to have not only confidence in me, but also the veterans of this country.
I'm privileged today, and I appreciate the chairman and ranking member mentioning my family because I would not be here without them.
My wife of 36 years is with me, Lisa.
She's right here.
I have my son, Copeland, and his wife, Holly.
I have my son, Cameron, his fiancée, Maddie.
And then on the end, we have the one that glues us all together.
And that is Jordan.
She is our daughter.
But there's also one that probably is watching right now that I'd be remiss if I didn't mention.
And it's my 86-year-old father, who spent 31 years as a Georgia State Trooper.
Dad, I'm here because of you and Mom.
And I love you.
You know, America is the greatest nation on Earth.
And it's the greatest nation on Earth, I believe, because of the men and women who serve.
It's the men and women who serve and are willing to take the step up to protect the freedoms that we hold so dear.
And throughout my two decades of service, I've witnessed this firsthand.
I've watched men and women go at their best, even when they didn't want to.
And they served.
And they stood up for our freedoms.
And they earned the benefits of being in our great veteran system.
And the VA is there for them.
In addition to being a Navy veteran for a while, I've now been in the United States Air Force for over 23 years.
I'm a colonel serving at the Warner Robins Air Force Base at Afric Command.
And I've been able to watch over the years leadership.
Leadership is about listening, but it's also about leading.
It's also about taking the men and women that you serve with and making sure that you're putting their needs first.
When you're in the military, it's about the mission.
For me, if I'm confirmed by this body, the VA will be my mission.
It will be the mission to take care of our veterans and to make sure they get the benefits that they deserve.
I'm an Iraq war veteran.
I understand burn pits because I... That's wild.
We've all had our differences in this body.
And, Ranking Member, I appreciate you mentioning, yes, we have differences, but we can agree.
Because I have worked across this aisle to pass major legislation.
Thanks to President Trump and this body, we passed the First Step Act giving real criminal justice reform with my partner, Hakeem Jeffries, in the House.
Music Modernization Act, which Senator Kramer mentioned.
Defend Trade Secrets Act with Chris Coons and many others.
These are the kind of things that make big differences when you cross and you give good ideas.
For me, it is about having respect for the members.
It's about having respect for this committee.
And that is what I believe this committee is, is one of the most bipartisan here.
I have earned and worked bipartisanly to make things happen in this country.
Because you know also I believe that we also have a lot we're in common with on both sides of this committee's dice.
I believe we also believe that there is timely access and care for our veterans, for every eligible person.
I believe that we're actually supposed to reach out, and the Mission Act provides that template that we passed here that I was a part of passing.
The VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which passed, by the way, this body unanimously that holds our veterans, workers, and the workers who touch our veterans to the highest standards possible.
I will tell you right now, the veterans...
The VA will not have a stronger fighter for the employees in the workforce than this secretary, if confirmed, and also one that will make sure that we're held accountable because good work begots good work and others need to be held accountable.
We will do that to make sure that we get the best for our veterans.
The PAC Act, which was mentioned by the ranking member, something that I think we're still developing and making sure everybody gets the treatment.
Just passed the Elizabeth Dole Act, something we're going to have to look at next.
I'm looking forward to.
But as we look at this, I do bring one thing.
It's going to require your help.
It's going to require our mission.
I bring to you today two things that will be at the forefront of my service.
These are my dog tags.
They're a reminder, just like every other veteran who served, that we're part of a bigger unit.
And I also bring this bracelet that was made for me by a young airman.
She was keeping watch each night, and I'd go by and see her, and we'd talk.
I was a flatline chaplain at Belod.
And she had said one night, she said, I've got something for you.
And she ran back into her guard chat and she came out with this.
She said, you're always bringing us something and listening.
She said, I want to give you something.
Well, what she didn't know is now about 15 years later, if confirmed by this body, this bracelet will be sitting in the secretary of the VA's office reminding me every day of the men and women that we serve.
And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
All right.
So I think just from that, I think he shows an energy, an energy for the community that we haven't seen, that we haven't seen before. an energy for the community that we haven't seen, that uh And of course, you take it with a grain of salt, right?
And I hate to be that guy that's a cynic all the time, right?
But we've seen in the past, We've seen leadership in VA and many different places that come in, and they're very enthusiastic, and they have all these great ideas about how to help veterans.
And then most of them fall by the wayside.
There's always those projects that people in high leadership positions They have goals, right?
They know that they have a certain amount of time.
You know, like this fella knows he's got four years.
And I don't care who you are when you know that, okay, I for sure have four years at this job.
I for sure have four years to be secretary of the VA. And what is the legacy that I want to leave behind?
And so I think that you start laying out Projects and initiatives that you want to push forward.
Goals of things that you want to accomplish.
And you do so strategically.
There's going to be those goals that you know that you'll accomplish.
The give me goals.
The easy stuff.
In all VA facilities, we're going to have...
Kemp's ice cream and not Breyer's ice cream for patients, you know, when they get their tonsils out or, you know, at the ENT clinic when they have these surgeries on their throats.
You know, like I had a sleep apnea surgery at the VA. They almost killed me with morphine.
But they did offer me ice cream when I was recovering because it felt good on my throat.
So we're going to offer only Kemp's and not this because this is going to be cheaper, right?
And so, hey, now we're saving the VA money.
So there's those gimme projects like that.
Which, hey, if you're saving money, you're saving money.
$20 is $20, right?
But then there's the more difficult things.
The more difficult initiatives.
And I guess I don't really know what he referenced as the more difficult initiatives.
He talked about some things that they're going to have to take a look at, like the Elizabeth Dole Act.
That was just passed.
He didn't say anything about it.
He just said that's the next thing to be looked at by him and his people.
I think that you've got to be strategic.
And I think that there's a chance for people to be approached once they're in positions of power that really kind of changes their trajectory.
And so I hope I hope that for Mr. Collins, that he keeps up, he keeps this energy, he keeps this up, you know, well into his tenure with the VA, hopefully the whole time, and he does amazing things for veterans all across this country.
The one other thing I found super, super interesting is that this guy, In 2025, we'll be the first secretary of the VA that's actually a veteran.
And maybe it's my fault for not knowing that, that I'm really surprised by it.
But it's kind of one of those things where, you know, you kind of just assume, right?
The dude that we're going to put in charge of ensuring that veterans get the care and services that they were promised by this country when they chose to put on a uniform and then came out of the service.
After all this time, we now have our first secretary of the VA that wore a uniform and served.
And actually deployed to a combat zone.
Now, he's a chaplain.
He probably didn't see any combat, but he was there.
He was at Balad, which is a pretty big base, and was a pretty big base in Iraq.
And they got mortared.
They got rockets.
There's a lot of stuff happening up that way.
He's not a stranger to a combat zone.
Maybe he's a stranger to a firefight.
But he isn't a stranger to a combat zone.
I guarantee you, as a chaplain, he talked to soldiers that did see combat and were affected.
And so he probably carries those things with him.
I'm quite certain he probably spoke with soldiers who were pretty critically injured.
He carries that with him.
And so I think that that's a pretty important quality for the secretary of the VA to have.
And the fact that we haven't had that yet, especially being at war, the longest war in our nation's history has only been over for a few years.
Been through a few presidents since the war had been going on.
Why do you suspect, if you had to guess, that we've never had a secretary that was a veteran?
It all kind of makes a little bit more sense now.
It all kind of makes a little bit more sense now.
Why some of these programs and some of these initiatives and some of the things that are done inside the walls of the Veterans Administration, why they're asked backwards at times.
And why they seem like they're not really conducive to making sure that the veterans, the customer, the patient, doesn't always seem to be On the forefront of some things, some programs or some report or some test or something.
It's really interesting to me.
How can anybody take that job who's not a veteran and say, yeah, I think I got something in common with these guys.
How many secretaries of the VA were children?
Military children?
How many of their parents were veterans or soldiers or airmen?
Maybe past presidents thought that was more important.
Maybe it was more important to have somebody in that job that had to live with and watch a veteran navigate life to understand a little bit better maybe about what they might need.
And how they might navigate the world.
And I disagree with that.
If that's the case, I think it's absolutely asinine that we wouldn't have a Secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department that's never served.
And so with that being said, I feel pretty good about this nomination, just based on that.
Because let's think about this.
Doug Collins, who's still serving in the United States Air Force, as we speak, still a member, which he might have to retire if he's the Secretary of the VA. I don't know if they'll make him or not, but maybe not.
But let's think about this.
Let's think about the role he has as a colonel in the Air Force, as a chaplain.
His job is to talk to young service members.
Of course, to spread the word, right?
He's a chaplain.
He's a pastor.
But also...
To talk them through tough times.
To hear their stories.
To try to understand where they're coming from.
To try to put himself in their shoes.
And provide them guidance.
And provide them help.
Sometimes all young soldiers need is someone to tell them, hey, I know.
I know that this really sucks.
And it seems like it's all bullshit.
I know.
But you gotta stick it out.
You gotta just hang in there.
You gotta rely on your battle buddies.
You gotta rely on your family.
I mean, there's probably a whole dissertation of things that you can say to young soldiers.
To help motivate them to just stick it out a little bit longer.
Before they quit.
Before they go down the road to thinking about suicide.
Before they start thinking about divorcing their wives or husbands.
There's a lot of things.
A lot of ways to motivate young soldiers.
That for some reason seems to be a lot easier than talking with...
Civilian people that are in similar predicaments of similar ages.
Almost like young service members are just more open to at least hearing you, at least hearing you out.
But this guy has made a career of doing this.
And essentially, the Secretary of the VA, in my opinion, needs to be a good listener.
Because there is a lot of very complicated, And a lot of complicated things going on.
And I'll be the first one to admit, sometimes, folks, sometimes veterans, and even some of these veterans organizations, they get some pretty unrealistic asks of the VA. But they'll pose really good arguments.
But the whole ask in general gets pretty ridiculous at times.
And so being a person that's a good listener, that can sift through the bullshit, essentially, and then come up with a compromise, and a compromise that's in the best interest of the veteran, or the customer, if you will, that's probably what we need in that position.
We need a secretary that's going to listen to the VA employees, the workforce, about the conditions they're working under, the staffing needs, whether they need more or less, the equipment needs, all those things.
Maybe not all of them can be fixed right away.
But I think that you get pretty far if you just hear out the people.
And even if the answer is no, but you can validate what they're saying, we need new blood pressure monitors.
Okay.
Well, we're in a pickle right now.
But we can work on new blood pressure monitors at such and such time.
I hear you.
And it's now on the radar.
But right now, we cannot.
We've got to work with what we've got right now.
That type of thing, I think, goes a long way.
It talks people off a ledge.
And hopefully, this is the guy that can do that and alleviate some of the stress of the employees, which, in turn, makes for better care, a better quality of care for the men and women that are coming in those doors to get care.
In my opinion, it's that simple.
And there's already enough bullshit going on within the VA that some of these things that seem like they can be a more simple conversation should certainly be had and knocked out right away.
But some of these bigger issues, the sticky one for me is the caregiver program.
I am a champion for that program to actually go to the secretary for review and And no matter what he says or thinks about it, I believe it also needs to go to the president's desk at some point for him to review it.
It is that egregious.
And I believe that the corruption in that program is that crazy.
There are people who are involved in non-profits and NGOs that are just stuffing money in their pockets.
All the while, veterans and their caregivers are getting left out in the cold.
Those are the types of things that I think the Secretary needs to be looking at.
And so if given the chance, I will certainly be a champion for that program to be reviewed at the highest levels.
And what does that mean?
What does that look like?
I don't know.
But you never know what opportunities are going to come your way and who you might have the chance to sit across the table from or stand next to in an elevator or meet at a gas pump.
Who knows?
Who knows where you run into who?
But at the end of the day, the guy's here.
And he's here for four years.
And so, for now, anyway, and if you're a weekly watcher of this show, you know this better than anybody.
For now, he's got my support.
But it don't take much to lose it, does it, folks?
It doesn't take much.
And sometimes we can be wishy-washy here, can't we?
We can be wishy-washy at times.
You know, we might like you today, hate you tomorrow, then we'll love you again next week.
But at the end of the day, what we really need is somebody who is going to, one, put veterans first.
Number two, be mindful of the fact that there are more people out there than just the folks coming in for Sniffles and coughs and things like that, which we know because it's the VA. There's veterans with a wide array of things,
but all of those triple layers, the amputees, the spinal cord injuries, the family caregivers, the most severely wounded and in-need veterans, the homeless population.
The severely mentally impaired veterans.
They all deserve it.
They all deserve a second look.
They all deserve a chance at being comfortable in however many days, weeks, months, or years they have left.
That's all the time we have for this week.
Stay tuned.
Week number two may be just as crazy as week one.
I have a feeling that we're going to see some pretty interesting things.
Be on the lookout for the unclassified assassination documents.
I'm pumped to read them.
And I hope that if there's anybody involved that's still around, still alive, and still working in government, For any reason, way, shape, or form, that they get fried if they need to be.
Anyway, have a great rest of your weekend.
We'll see you guys next week.
Take care of yourselves.
Good night.
As Christians in a Christian country, we have a right to be at minimum agnostic about the leadership being all Jewishly occupied
We literally should be at war with Israel a hundred times over, and instead we're just sending them money, and it's crazy.
Look at the state of Israel, look at the state of Tel Aviv, and look at the state of Philadelphia.
You tell me where this money's going, you tell me who's benefiting from this.
I am prepared to die in the battle.
Fighting this monstrosity that would wish to enslave me and my family and steal away any rights to my property and to take away my god gold self.
Will I submit to that?
And if you've got a foreign state, you've got dual citizens in your government, who do you think they're supporting?
God, right now, would you protect the nation of Israel and protect those of us, not just our church, but every church in the world and in this nation that's willing to put their neck on the line and say, we stand with them.
We stand with them.
We go to Trump's cabinet.
We go to Biden's cabinet.
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