Who in his or her right mind would say, sign me up for that, Sarge, I can't wait.
Who, who would do that?
>> I don't know, not my son, and
I know a lot of young people don't wanna have anything to do with that.
It's like throwing your life away.
>> That was Marjorie Taylor Greene on Lou Dobbs' podcast,
essentially saying that joining the military is like throwing your life away.
And I think this might be one of the rare occasions where I kind of agree with her.
Not because I think the actual soldiers within our military are bad people.
But because the system is specifically set up in a way that puts them at a huge
disadvantage.
Puts them in terrible conflicts that lead to all sorts of physical and
mental health issues.
And then they're abandoned later when they come back to the United States.
But that is not what Marjorie Taylor Greene is referring to.
So there was actually some truth to what she said, I wanna be clear, but
it's still riddled with hypocrisy.
So here's a clip that gives us a little more context about what's fueling her
argument here.
>> The Army is reducing its numbers because there has been some
issue with recruiting.
No, the numbers are telling them to reduce the size of the force.
They're not making that decision.
They can't even get enough people to sign up for
the military because they've seen the way they're treated.
Can you imagine explaining to a recruit, you're gonna be just fine,
just like those Marines in Kabul.
We may not have time to protect you, we may not have time to come back and
get you, but it'll work out all right.
And by the way, it's okay if you fight a war for 20 years in Afghanistan and,
we're gonna say, fight a third world country for two decades and
walk out with our tail between our legs.
Who in his or her right mind would say, sign me up for that, Sarge, I can't wait.
Who, who would do that?
>> I don't know, not my son, and
I know a lot of young people don't wanna have anything to do with that.
It's like throwing your life away.
>> So Francesca, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Because we're concerned about our soldiers dealing with the ramifications of
engaging in these interventions and these conflicts abroad.
That is not what they're concerned about.
They're concerned about not going hard enough in these conflicts.
>> Yes, I think this is a perfect clip that shows you the crass hypocrisy
of far-right anti-interventionism and isolationism.
It's not that they wanna put soldiers' lives first.
It's that they want, instead of a two-decade war, a three-decade war.
Why didn't we go for four decades?
Four is not enough.
Let's go 50 years, baby.
Let's go all the way, like that is the answer.
I'm sure Marines are much happier not throwing more of their friends and
their loved ones and their own bodies after a terrible,
ridiculous occupation that did not bear anything out.
The corruption around which was insane.
The killing that private contractors made in that country is also disgusting.
So yeah, no, I don't buy that at all.
I think Marines are actually happy that they are not there,
chasing after this golden dragon of a, why are we still in Afghanistan, again?
The problem is, is that that line is a line, I would say,
back when we invaded Afghanistan, which was, who would sign up?
Why would you go into this ridiculous war, right?
Osama bin Laden, then we go into Iraq right?
We've got two ridiculous wars.
The reality is, on 9/11, many people did enlist, why?
Because they felt like it was their duty.
They felt like it was the only thing they could do.
And if you were truly listening and believed George W Bush,
then you would have done the same.
I personally didn't believe George W Bush.
But that's what they were telling us, was that this is a valiant cause,
our country's under attack.
So then to have Marjorie Taylor Greene said, it's throwing your life away.
That's what you think of people who choose to serve their country?
Choose to serve their country, wow.
>> I mean, she's just a terrible person.
I mean, there's really no other way to describe her.
And I have more evidence of that in just a moment.
But let's address why the military has had some difficulty recruiting.
The military has said that it has been struggling to recruit in the wake of
the COVID pandemic, with the US Army reporting it didn't meet its goal for
new members in late 2021.
In January, the Army offered $50,000 bonuses to those who can
commit to six years of service in order to help the dwindling numbers.
Listen, I know that $50,000, it's a good amount of money.
I'm not trying to minimize that.
But a one-time bonus in return for
a commitment to be part of a system that chews you up and
spits you out the way that it does.
It ain't enough, that's my point.
Especially when you look at the starting salaries of our soldiers,
which is around $20,000.
$20,000, I mean, we're talking about people who
are just put in the worst positions, in dangerous environments.
In situations where, again, it not only has the potential of harming them
physically, but also mentally, with PTSD and other mental health issues.
And then what happens later?
They end up abandoned.
I don't know if this is true of every state.
I can only speak about what I've experienced in my own city.
But VA facilities are surrounded with
encampments that are full of our veterans.
How do you make those sacrifices for our country, for the government,
for all of that, and then to be completely abandoned like that?
And by the way, obviously I'm a big believer in providing the mental health
care and physical health care for all Americans,
regardless of where they are with their socioeconomic status.
But that's a different story for a different day, probably later this week,
cuz it's something we talk about a lot.
But I also wanna say that Republicans also refuse to give veterans adequate
health care.
I wanna go to this March 3rd, 2022, headline,
House passes bill to expand health care for veterans exposed to toxins.
174 Republicans vote against it, and by the way, Francesca,
I'm old enough to remember how Trump made the treatment of
veterans part of his campaign platform in 2020.
I'm sorry, not 2020, in 2016,
pretending to care about how our soldiers are treated, how our veterans are treated.
But it's his party, dominantly the Republican Party,
that turns its backs on these soldiers, on these veterans.
>> Absolutely, and not to mention, I don't know if you remember the VA scandal,
where they were essentially trying to privatize it.
And he was giving it to three of his golf buddies who were hacking
it out between them on how they were gonna privatize it and
how they were gonna offer less services.
And for folks who think that privatizing the VA would be better, it would not be.
It needs more funding.
It does not need to be privatized for some vultures to make a profit off of.
That's the last thing we need.
I just wanna add to this because it's the theme of the show,
I feel like, and we have two women.
You know what also helps with recruitment into a place like the military?
Ensuring that women who serve will not be sexually assaulted.
Ensuring safety for LGBTQ members, as well, who join the military.
And right now, none of that is in place.
There is no accountability, and nine times out of ten, you go to an officer,
you tell them.
If you do report, they don't believe you, they blame you.
And then you have young women like Vanessa Guillen,
who are murdered by a fellow soldier.
So really, what are we talking about?
The job hazards.
There are women who straight-up said, who are serving in the military,
I felt more in danger on base, with my own soldiers than I did in the field.
>> Yes, yeah, thank you for bringing that up.
That has been an ongoing issue.
I remember talking about these explosive stories involving
sexual misconduct toward female soldiers back in 2012.
And there was a little bit of momentum to do something about it,
but that totally died down.
So you're absolutely right about that.
And just quickly going back to the Republicans who voted against funding
healthcare or expanding healthcare for soldiers or veterans.
One of the 174 Republicans who voted against it was Marjorie Taylor Greene,
important context there.
And she also suggested that rules of engagement mean that people are shot at,
killed, and maimed before they're allowed to fire back and defend themselves.
It's a disaster from the top down and the bottom up.
We can add in the training, the woke training,
where they have to undergo this ridiculous ideology of the sick and satanic left.
So basically her big criticism of the military is,
we're not allowing soldiers to just use offensive force when they're in
these nonsensical wars that are just meant to enrich private defense contractors.
But there's one more video I wanna get to, because she also elaborated on
why she is uncomfortable with the situation in Ukraine.
As you all know, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Here's what she has to say about it.
>> The war in Ukraine, I really truly believe that it's causing in
our participation by prolonging it.
Because we are prolonging it when we're providing more weapons and
more just providing it.
It means that we're giving them the ability to fight longer.
When inevitably and very tragically for Ukraine,
it appears that Russia will win this conflict.
And they already have gained so much land there in Ukraine, and so
more people just die.
But what's worse is how it's affecting trade around the world.
And I don't wanna be in a globalist economy, but
we are stuck in a global economy now.
>> All these innocent civilians are dying in Ukraine
as a result of what Putin is doing with his forces.
But what's worse is how it's impacting trade.
Francesca, that's what's worse.
So Marjorie Taylor Greene just making it abundantly clear that she puts profit
over human lives.
Because that's what the Republican Party is.
I'm glad that she's at least brazen about it.
>> Yeah, I mean, I cringe even when Democrats talk about the pump and
prices at the pump, as if there was any.
This is such apples to oranges.
But the part of that quote that really just gut punches me is her saying,
sad to say, but we're prolonging the war if we help Ukraine.
Hey, don't give any aid to Ukrainians, cuz you're just prolonging it.
They're gonna die anyway.
Why would you help people in need when they're going to die anyway?
That is effectively what she's saying, completely throwing in the towel.
And kind of echoing I think what honestly may be a foreshadowing of where other
Republican commentators and right-wing commentators are gonna go from here.
It's over, it's done, might as well throw in the towel.
You're just making it worse.
>> Yeah, it really is sick, and
right-wingers just constantly providing cover for Putin.
Even being complimentary toward Putin as, again, innocent civilians are being.
They're not just dying in the line of fire, they're being targeted.
And the pro-life Republican Party in this country seems to be
totally okay with that.
And when I say Republican Party,
there are plenty of Republican voters who are against it.
They find it horrific.
I'm just talking about the people in charge.
Gotta wonder why they seem to favor Vladimir Putin's brutality and
murder over helping and assisting Ukraine to minimize deaths as much as possible.