SPECIAL: Trump's First Moves After Historic Win (Recap)
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Get ready to hear the truth about America on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host, Dan Bongino. Hey, welcome back to this Friday show. We got a special best of the last week in election coverage, including some of the Trump appointments. You know, some of them we like, some of them I think we're going to have to be open to. Some of them we all, you know, have an opinion on. We may not like. That's all right, too. There's nothing wrong with that. You're not going to agree with every single person, every single idea.

But as I said earlier in the week, I think it's really critical that we stay open to the idea that he has his reasons. He was burned, President Trump, that is, last time by a lot of really awful appointments who were recommended to him by other people.

I am absolutely certain this time that regardless of who recommends who, he made the final decision this time. And he has his reasons. And a good thing about President Trump is he is not hesitant at all to fire and get rid of people if he doesn't like them. So we're going to see. As always, the Dan Bongino rule applies. Engage this whole thing like a spreadsheet.

They're a positive and a plus one. Great. They're a negative one. We get rid of them. There are zero. We get rid of them too and move on till we can find a plus one. Don't miss today's show. You're going to love it. Beam cyber sales here. Bongino listeners enjoy up to 50% off at shop beam.com slash Bongino using code Bongino. Don't miss beams. Biggest sale of the year. Thanks again for joining us on this Friday. We appreciate it. Folks. Helix has an amazing offer for my listeners. And Paul and I moved into the new house. The Helix mattress was the first thing we unpacked. We worked hard. We play hard. We,

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From Fox, Harris campaign no longer speaking to media. Let's go! Bye!

And in the greatest sign of all. Wait, that headline's two years old. That's actually a good point. Two months old. So Jim said, breaking news, the Kamala Harris campaign is no longer talking to the media. And Ben's brought up a good point. That headline's from three and a half years ago, where Kamala Harris has never spoken to the media ever. Folks, listen, I'm just going to tell you tonight, if this thing keeps going the direction it's going now, outside of some drastic, drastic seismic

punctuated equilibrium type moment where species are getting wiped out this thing is gonna be a really good night I I go to sleep tonight feeling really good I think you're gonna wake up tomorrow and I see very few scenarios by which you know we're gonna be able to we're not we're not I don't know any other way to say it this I just don't want to get ahead of myself but this thing really just looks absolutely incredible

There's this book, okay, called, I think it's called The Plum Book. And it is a list of about a couple thousand to maybe 3,000 jobs that

that fall under the executive branch that the president and his people are going to appoint. The president's not going to be involved with all 3,000 picks. He's going to have the big headliner jobs, like you saw yesterday, EPA, DHS, SEC state, cabinet, probably the deputies underneath them, obviously attorney general and that stuff. But they're not going to get involved in like, I mean, not in that, but like the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I think that's an important job for them, but it's not going to be something probably President Trump's going to personally be involved in.

But there's a lot of appointments he's got to make. Now, I'm just being straight with you here. I know a lot of good and decent people. They told me they're going through a very methodical process with this thing. Here's the problem they have.

There is not a single appointment they are going to make, I promise, where you're going to agree with that person 100% of the time. It's just not going to happen. It's not. And I'm not going to comment on the Christy Noem pick yet because I haven't seen it on True Social. So I'm going to follow my pattern. The Rubio pick seems like that's pretty much a fait accompli at this point.

For Secretary of State, you have Lee Zeldin. We'll get to that later at EPA. Here's the issue. The last time Trump chose a team of rivals approach, this team of rivals approach was meant to bring into the tent

People who generally disagreed with Trump and ran against him with the thought that it would mute the resistance to his agenda. Does that make sense? Guy, stop me if this is getting boring. He just figured there's going to be a lot of people out there who don't like me who were never Trump in 2016. You might as well bring them in the tent and then they'll become Team Trump loyalists. That didn't happen. They got inside the tent and they did what? Double-barreled FDRs.

you, man. They just gave him the double barrel and screwed him over. The Rex Tillerson's and others, they shafted his entire, basically his entire presidency. And it took them three and a half years to get their sea legs. Luckily, they got a lot of stuff done. I shouldn't say three and a half years. They got a lot of stuff done, but it was the team of rivals approach didn't work. This time, what I'm hearing is they're not going to agree on policy with every single appointee. They're not.

But they at least initially trust these people to be loyalists to the Trump agenda. If not, I'm going to say the Trump agenda and that they came out there and they put before they put their political butts on the line a little bit. That's what I think is going on. So.

There's going to be a lot of circular firing squad stuff where somebody wants someone and they don't get picked. And then boom, everybody. Here's my suggestion. Give it a little bit. Trump has had no problem firing people. Trust his judgment on this just for a bit. I know his people are doing their homework. None of these picks are by accident. There's a reason it's happening.

I'm just asking you, especially with the Rubio pick and others, listen, Marco Rubio and I have had some agreements and some disagreements on issues. He's one of my senators down here from the state of Florida. Just give it some time. There's a reason they made these picks. They're not by accident. Do you get what I'm saying? Just kind of, a lot of times, like in the past, we thought we had really good people, Bill Barr and others, and they let us down. Jeff Sessions and others, and they let us down.

This time he's doing it for a reason. We talked about personnel for a second there. Let's talk about anti-personnel, getting rid of some people. Because, folks, if there's not mass firings on day one, day two, through day 100, then this thing has all been for naught.

The hits just keep on coming. And I want to address something, too, a tactical disagreement I had with a listener yesterday who's like, Dan, they're doing it all wrong. They're announcing all the people they're going to fire and all the things they're going to do. This is a big mistake. We should sneak up on them. Funny with the ninja stars. Like ninja style, the karate man. I would do karate man, but my right knee is like blown out. I slipped in the sauna yesterday.

I know things keep breaking. I'm getting old. But I'm going to address why you're wrong. I love that you commented, but you're wrong. But this person's got to go. NBC News FBI Director Christopher Wray is preparing for a possible forced exit under Trump.

Hallelujah. Please see you. Wouldn't want to be you. This guy has got to go. Folks, I said to you, the second Donald Trump swears in, I, Donald J. Trump, he should just whip out a flip phone from his pocket, a StarTAC from the 90s that still works, call up Christopher Wray and say, you're fired in that Donald Trump only way. This guy has got to go. I can make a strong case to you that he has been as incompetent

and potentially corrupt an FBI director as Jim Comey. And believe me, that's saying a lot. This guy is awful. It's by Ken Delaney in which of course, you know, is a, you know, a fusion Ken Delaney. And, uh, was that a Ken Delaney in article? Really? Some people have asked me who I would like to see in charge of the FBI. I'm always hesitant to throw names out there, but,

Kash Patel, I think would be great. I think would be a great addition.

Listen, Devin Nunes, who led the Spygate investigation, would be really good. Ratcliffe would be pretty good. Again, folks, I understand as I throw these names out there, I'm listening to you guys in the chat. You guys matter to me. I'm here. So who's it? West Coast 360 Cash Patel. Listen, I love you guys in the chat, but I don't I just want to be clear. Like, this is not a monarchy. If you don't agree with me, say, Dan, say, screw that guy. If that guy and here's why. That's fine. Like, that's cool.

There's just so many people to pick. There's not going to be unanimity on every single pick is all I was getting at. I'm sorry if I was even a little long winded at the beginning of the show. Now, let me get to one of my listeners. Someone reached out via Facebook yesterday and said, Dan, the strategy of announcing all this stuff that Trump is going to do by video is a huge mistake because the left can prepare. I'm here to tell you with absolute certainty, certainty.

And I'm not absolutely certain about much, but I'm certain about this. You are 100% wrong. And I can tell you, because this is not an ex post facto analysis, I've said to you before in advance for years that that's wrong. One, the left already knows what Trump is going to do. People in government who are getting pink slips, notifications, your job, they're already leaking to the media. So let me be clear, and I would like your feedback in the chat here, but let me just be clear on this.

People in the media, number one, already know what Trump is going to do. Fact, people all over the government are leaking. I'll give you an example. Someone leaked out the Rubio pic before Trump even got to announce it. That's why I'm not so sure the gnome pic is even real. It was leaked. People already know. Second, what did I tell you about a year, two years, three years ago, over and over again? The way you handle the first hundred days

is you do remember rock'em sock'em robots you guys ever play that game with kids am i aging myself a little bit now everybody's on video games but back then they had actual games like you'd have to hit little levers and stuff remember to rock'em sock'em robots and they beat the crap out of each other me and my brothers loved that game and if you could hit it really fast that rock'em sock'em robot you beat the hell out of the other robot that's how you do it you got to just keep throwing punches you send out

The minute they're worried about Trump breaking up the international censorship regime, you send out a video about breaking up the DEI regime on universities. The minute they get upset about that, you send out Stephen Miller's going to be a deputy chief of staff. They start crying about that, you announce Tom Holman and then Rubio. The minute they're upset about that, you announce that you're going to break up the Department of Education.

This is the way you do it. Because if you noticed that they're so busy infighting, they don't know what to focus on. They were losing their shit over Tom Homan being appointed border czar. And basically you haven't heard anything about it in the last 12 hours because they're focused on everything else.

This, you do it openly, you do it in their face, you go rock'em, sock'em, robot style. Here's what I mean. Here's Donald Trump releasing another video yesterday. Watch every second of this. This is good. About breaking up our communist university accreditors in the DEI regime. This is super important. The accreditors.

are what make these universities, these factories for communism and socialism. Check this out. Tuition costs at colleges and universities have been exploding. And I mean absolutely exploding. While academics have been obsessed with indoctrinating America's youth,

The time has come to reclaim our once-great educational institutions from the radical left, and we will do that. Our secret weapon will be the college accreditation system. It's called accreditation for a reason.

The accreditors are supposed to ensure that schools are not ripping off students and taxpayers, but they have failed totally. When I return to the White House, I will fire the radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxists, maniacs, and lunatics. We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again and once and for all.

These standards will include defending the American tradition and Western civilization, protecting free speech, eliminating wasteful administrative positions that drive up costs incredibly,

removing all Marxist diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats, offering options for accelerated and low-cost degrees, providing meaningful job placement and career services, and implementing college entrance and exit exams to prove that students are actually learning and getting their money's worth.

So to the gentleman who reached out to me at Facebook, I love you. This is not a monarchy. I can't say that enough. This is a family. We don't have to agree. But I have to be firm here in telling you, you are definitely wrong. Do you see how this approach works better?

When you hit them rock them, sock them robot style, think about this. I've been in the media business a long time. We have Bongino.com. Evita writes there. Matt writes there. We've got articles there still. They have one column they'll pretty much write a day. It's the exact same thing at the Washington Post and the New York Times. If you have one column and you're an anti-Trump lunatic like a Jennifer Rubin, what do you write about? Right? What do you write about that day?

Tom Homan is a Nazi. I mean, Stephen Miller's a fascist. I mean, they're going to break up the university. I mean, they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do. They were still busy focused on Trump breaking up the censorship regime. They're worried about him firing the FBI. They don't know what to write about.

Trust your boy. Have I led you astray on anything? Trust your boy, D-Bots. Trust your boy. I told you J.D. was the pick. Some of you didn't believe me. He was the pick. Told you to vote early. We'd kick their ass. They weren't prepared for it. What did we do on the radio show? We focused on the Senate because it mattered. We're up 53 seats. Your boy is not going to lead you astray into the wilderness, okay?

This is the only way. Because now Jennifer Rubin's writing a piece right now. I'm probably not doing it in pen, but I used to. I didn't even learn to type until I was like in secret service school. I still have to write everything down. It's true. I was like, you know, the hunt and peck guy. Jennifer Rubin right now is like, oh my gosh, they're going to fire accreditors. We will not be able to institute communism in universities. We're going to lose our ideological power over the younglings.

The younglings. As she's writing this article, she's watching this video. Here's the same video at the end. She's like, wait, wait, wait. Now she's got to scratch the whole column out and say, holy shit, there was something even worse in this video. Trump is going to break up the Department of Education. Folks, hair is getting pulled out in chunks right now. Whole chunks. You're going to have a big donut around your head. Chunks are being pulled out right now. Here, watch this. Same video.

And one other thing I'll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education working needs back to the states. We want them to run the education of our children because they'll do a much better job of it. You can't do worse. We spend more money per pupil by three times than any other nation.

And yet we're absolutely at the bottom. We're one of the worst. You see, you see, man, you see what I'm telling you? They don't know what to write about. They're still busy writing about Kamala Harris sucks. Joe Biden should have got out sooner. Republicans are racist, Nazi, misogynist, anti-immigrant. They're still busy writing. No, they're not even done with those. They don't know what to do.

Please, seriously, I know it's joking, but please trust me. I promise you I have no dog in this fight. I swear to you as my loyal listeners, I love you guys. I have no dog in this fight. I'm not looking for a job. I'm not looking for PAC donations. I don't want your money. I don't want anything. I have no dog in the fight other than you and my credibility. This is the only way to do this.

And by the way, these things are so fast and furious. I got to tell you, I've had a tough time triaging the show about what to put in the show because Trump has launched so many nuclear bombs against the left and the deep state. I can't even fit it all in the show. This thing about university accreditors is a big deal. You have to be accredited to get federal money. When the accreditors tell colleges, hey, basically do commie stuff,

That's why we've got communist universities. You break that cartel, you've got a whole new education system. And the Department of Education has been nothing more than an outlet, bureaucratic outlet for the teachers unions that have screwed over kids forever. This is huge stuff. Hope you're enjoying these producer picks from the week. This is the best election wrap-up you're going to see. Hey, you having trouble sleeping or staying asleep? Listen, I've been there. It's not just about feeling tired the next day. It's about the toll poor sleep can take on your life.

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Avengers assemble. Let's just rock and roll through these things. Donald Trump sending out some bombshell announcements last night. As I said to you, if I don't hear it from Donald Trump, it didn't happen. This came out from his official office last night. The great Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, two guys I really like, will be leading Doge.

I love the Doge thing. If you guys are crypto people, you know what that is. But here it stands for the Department of Government Efficiency. This set the liberals into a tizzy. Stand by, as they used to say in the police academy in New York on the mustard deck, stay daisy. I will get to the media response to that in a second. I just want to get through a few more appointments first. I just want to make one quick point on this. This is probably not going to be some formal government department with any...

Legislative powers, obviously, at states in the Congress. However, it's going to be an advisory board. And let me tell you something. Elon Musk, Vivek and Donald Trump have a really big microphone. So if the Department of Government Efficiency recommends a bunch of things and a bunch of swampy Republicans are like, we ain't doing that stuff, then good. You're going to have to deal with a massive PR machine running against you.

So I would take what these people do really seriously. They're two serious businessmen. They know what they're talking about. This could be one of the most important announcements yet, even though they're not formal cabinet positions, okay? This, forget it. Set the internet on fire. Long story short, last night, I'm trying to escape the politics just a little bit.

I was a little tired yesterday at the end of the radio show. Had a long week. Boo-hoo. Who gives a shit? Who cares? But I'm home. I'm sitting upstairs. We got this little, like, down room I hang out. It's super dark in here. I'm ready to go visit Lily White's party. Who's Lily White? I don't know. My mother used to say that when I was a kid, and she wanted me to go to sleep. So I'm like...

And I pop on Laura Ingraham's show, and she's got a guest on. The guy's like mid-sentence. Usually they let them finish the sentence, right? Guy used to do the Fox show with me. You let him finish the sentence, and you go, hold on, breaking news. Mid-sentence, she cuts him right off, and she's like, breaking news. Folks, I had no idea.

It was Pete Hegseth. I know I said I do it in a word, but put that one up if you would. Pete Hegseth is now going to be nominated to be the secretary of defense. If you want to sound cool about it, like say SecDef, whatever. Secretary of defense. Pete Hegseth. That's pretty good. Folks, I've known Pete a long time.

A really long time. Like in Dan Bongino's life, I've only been alive 50 years in a few weeks. I've known Pete for about one fifth of it. Pete is an amazing guy. I want to tell you, I 100% support this. Pete is a door kicker. Pete understands what needs to be done. Pete understands the tactical component. He understands the foreign policy component. He understands the PR component. He's selling America and he's selling the military to new recruits as well.

He is absolutely committed to ripping wokeness out of the military. Wrote a whole book about it. I highly recommend you pick it up. He's a good man and a decent man. I support him 100%. And what do I always tell you guys? Michael and I didn't talk about this yesterday. Always gauge the effectiveness of a pick or a political tactic by what?

The response of your political opponents and folks, diapers were being changed everywhere. People were crapping all over the place in their diapers. They all had to be cleaned up by mama. It was a total mess yesterday on the left. They don't know what to do. And just so you know, because I'm never going to fake it or anything. Dan, did you know? I had absolutely no idea. None. Matter of fact,

I talk to Rachel often. I mean, her daughter Evita works here. I mean, her son-in-law's right there. Rachel and Sean are very close friends of mine. I don't want to speak for them, but I'm reasonably confident they didn't know either. I was talking to Rachel probably a few hours before that happened. I was actually talking to a producer at Fox who knows Pete well from Fox and Friends about Pete going somewhere she didn't know either. So they had a close hold on this one.

Also yesterday, John Ratcliffe, I think a fantastic, fantastic pick. I got some video of him coming up in a second at CIA. I have one request from hopefully soon to be CIA director John Ratcliffe. I hope that appointment comes really quick and really fast or confirmation, I should say. We've got to open all the books, all the books on Spygate. Folks, I promise you that full story has not been told.

The angle you should ask about first, and I know Director Ratcliffe, if he's a confirmed, we'll get on this. What were we doing with UK intelligence to spy, to spy on American political candidates in 2016 and afterwards? You tell that story, it's going to shake up the deep state forever.

That's the story that needs to be told. People have been feeding me information about that for a long time. And you know you're watching me. I got that whistleblower who reached out. I get it. I don't care. Watch me all you want.

Doesn't matter. Do I look like I care? I don't care one bit. You watch whatever you want. Folks, the media lost it yesterday. Gauge the effectiveness by how the left wing media responds. If they don't care about a pick, do you notice they were very muted about Elise Stefanik and others because they don't see any political hay to be made about it. If they're melting down, they know they've got a serious problem.

The DOJ, the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon and Vivek. Do you understand this could break up the entire liberal governing model? The liberal governing model is this. Don't go to work. Sit on your ass. Put your ass in the seat. Do nothing. Right. Collect money from the government. Wealthy taxpayers. That's it. That's the liberal governing model.

If liberals don't have their government-funded NGOs and everything else, they don't have jobs and lives. They're realizing now they may have to actually go to work and produce shit. And they're freaking out because Elon's going to be in charge. Here is Joy Reid and this clown show of a congressman, David Jolly, who once pretended to be a Tea Party guy. This guy is an absolute fraud and a total life loser with no human dignity at all.

ripping apart the Department of Government Efficiency with Elon. That hasn't even started yet because they don't want efficiency. They want to grift like losers. Check this out. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Great, we're going to get to hear his voice again for however many years until he gets fired. They're going to lead something called the Department of Government Efficiency.

They're supposed to now be in charge of cutting the budget, which is normally the job of the House of Representatives. You served in the House. Doesn't the House have to be involved some way in creating a new government agency? Or can Trump just whip one up on Twitter? Yeah.

No, Joy, Joy, that's right. I think Donald Trump's just handing out candy right now to his to his friends and family. Congress is required to establish federal departments to define the jurisdiction, to decide how it's appointed. Presidents can can certainly appoint aides and non-congressional positions, but there will not be a Department of Government Efficiency without Congress, which actually raises the question, does Congress now just rubber stamp that? Yes. And one of its next.

appropriations bill. And here's what it's going to be. This is your Project 2025 department. Yes. The Department of Government Efficiency by Ramaswamy and Elon. That's your Project 2025 department without the bad impressions that Heritage created during the campaign trail.

David Jolly, that guy you heard next who ran as a fake Republican, is a life loser. Like, I'm one of the worst guys to ever enter the Congress at any point. An absolute zero with not a shred of human dignity whatsoever. Do you hear him at the end?

This is Project 2025. Project 2025 was a heritage think tank product that is put out every single year by conservative think tanks. Elon Musk and Vivek have absolutely nothing to do with it at all. So why would David Jolly say it? Because David Jolly is a

He is a life loser. He lies for a living. He lies on a show that loves lying. It's why nobody watches that crap network. And it's why their ratings have absolutely collapsed because people are tired of people like David Jolly lying. Personally, folks, project 2025. Look at it. It has some great ideas in it. Am I going to agree with all of them?

No? Are you? It's a think tank product. They had nothing to do with it. That's what these people do. Gauge the reaction by how successful, gauge your success of your thing by the reaction. Their freak out tells me double down on Vivek and Elon. And to the swampy Republicans out there, if they find these efficiencies, you better think twice before you even get the idea of voting this stuff down. Now, John Ratcliffe at CIA. Folks, I think this is probably...

So far, maybe his second most important pick. Secretary of Defense, I think, is number one. We don't have a defense department and a military. We don't have a freaking country, Daddy-O. You don't have anything. If it wasn't for our door kickers, if it wasn't for our warriors, our Marines, our Navy, Air Force, Army,

our folks in the Coast Guard, our people in the National Guard. If it wasn't for these people, you wouldn't have a country, man. You'd have an idea. We would have been conquered a long time ago for all of our resources, and we'd all be speaking German or Russian or Japanese after World War II.

However, CIA director is going to be an important spot. We have got to clean the deep state out. And the CIA under John Brennan and others under Burns and under Haspel have been a total absolute disaster at the leadership spot. They have let Russia and other countries walk all over us while they focused on spying on Donald Trump. And that bullshit's going to stop forever.

Ratcliffe, why do you like Ratcliffe? You asked me in the chat. Dan, why do you like Ratcliffe? I'll give you guys an answer in the chat because that's what you're there for, to keep me in check. Back it up. Show some receipts. Folks, I wrote three, I don't know. Who cares? A few books on the whole Spygate disaster. They were very well-researched products. I had help with it. It wasn't just me.

I wrote three books on this. And I'm telling you, there were only about five, maybe 10 members of Congress that were fully on board with getting to the bottom of this scandal. Ratcliffe was one of them. Ratcliffe was knee deep in this thing from day one, trying to figure it out. Here he is.

Absolutely eviscerating. Deep state FBI goon Peter Stroke, who led the whole spying operation into Donald Trump, when Stroke insists like, oh, he's not partisan or anything like that. I mean, he didn't send any of this stuff out or anything like that. Watch him just destroy this guy. He knows where the bodies are buried, Ratcliffe. Check this out. Approximately...

50,000 text messages that I've seen with your personal beliefs like F Trump, stop Trump, impeach Trump. Go ahead and confirm on the record that none of that occurred on an official FBI device or on official FBI time. Go ahead and do that. Sir, no, they did. Many of them did. Oh, they did. Okay, so... 50,000, sir. So really, no, I'll give you a chance at the end. So what you really meant to say was that when you said you never crossed that bright, inviolable line, what you meant to say was...

except for 50,000 times, except for hundreds of times a day where I went back and forth expressing my personal opinions about effing Trump and stopping Trump and impeaching Trump on official FBI phones, on official FBI time. Other than that, you never cross that line. I'm sure there are 13,000 FBI agents out there that are beaming with pride at how clearly you've drawn that line.

Agent Strucker, are you starting to understand why some folks out there don't believe a word you say? Folks, this is the Avengers dream team. Think of this now, right? And I'll address, I promise you this. I get it. I'm not ignoring that. I just imagine at a table, you have some national security crisis. We hope doesn't happen, but they do. Wars, terror attacks, sadly, tragically, they do happen. Okay. Imagine at that table,

You have Donald Trump, you have J.D. Vance, his national security team, right? You have an FBI director. I'm hoping it's Kash Patel. Let's keep our fingers crossed for Kash. You've got John Ratcliffe, who shouldn't have any problem getting confirmed as CIA director. You've got Pete Hegseth, SecDef. You've got potentially, say, as attorney general, a Bailey who is awesome, fantastic warrior, right?

You got Andrew Bailey. This could be just a magic dream team. Some of you say, well, wouldn't you want to see that table? Folks, I don't ask for things. I told you that. I'm not a deal cutter, okay? I'm just a servant in this whole operation for you guys and for the cause. I don't mean that to be like obsequious or anything like that. I just, it's true.

So let me address one more. You know what? Let me just get to Pete first because Pete's super important. Pete Hegseth is a good man. Pete and I have been very close for a long time. I love Pete. Pete, the only thing I'm worried about now is are you going to make it to my 50th birthday party? This was going to be the greatest party ever, and everybody keeps getting appointed to positions. My guest list is dropping off dramatically if you can't make it. This is on my mind. I'm like, Pete, are we going to lose Pete?

No, he's more important to the country. If you can't make it, I understand. It's going to be a good party. Don't miss it. That is going to be some Monday morning update. Here is the great Scott Jennings on CNN, a guy I'm really starting to like, who absolutely tore it up on the network yesterday when they started melting down about Pete Hegseth.

He's like, yeah, yeah, unqualified. Like, what's he going to do? Like, let a spy balloon come into the country, evacuate Afghanistan and get our members killed and lose the country hurriedly and give up. Oh, that already happened. That already it already happened. Check this out. You want to have confidence in the current leadership of the Pentagon and the way the defense operates.

This situation has been operating for the last several years. I mean, from the Afghanistan pullout, which was an extreme debacle for which no one was held accountable. We've had spy balloons flying over the United States. We built a $300 million pier as a public relations stunt, which wound up killing an American service member. I'd say I've had just about enough of the so-called insiders running the Defense Department. I think we ought to give Pete Hicks that the chance. You think that's about insiders? Yeah.

All the criticism of him is that he's not the expected Washington pick. And I'm just saying to you that the American people just voted against the expected Washington pick. So he's got 20 years in service, Afghanistan, Iraq, two bronze stars, Princeton, Harvard. Yeah, he's on TV, but so are the rest of us. By the way, that lesson you just gave is really interesting because you highlighted a bunch of things that the civilian leadership needs.

of the country decided on in the military their job was just to execute they they actually go I'm just saying I'm just saying how did it go Jennings great question how did it go don't tell me what you thought was gonna happen tell me what happened reminds me of Rocky 3 don't tell me what you think just tell me what happened your judgment sucked so bad you got people killed you got people killed

Maybe we need a bit of an outsider here who has some inside experience but isn't a company man. He's a freedom and liberty man. I'll take that. All right, let me take a quick break, and I'll address some stuff that popped up about your boy here, Danny Boombatz, okay?

It was a busy day last night. My phone was blowing up last night. I mean, really blowing up. I had to put it on do not disturb because even I need to sleep sometimes. And it was crazy. So I heard yesterday on I'm sitting home on on on X and I'm reading through the news doing some show prep. So my phone starts blowing up.

And friends of mine are congratulating me. And I honestly was worried about, did something happen? I thought, like, the podcast has been great. And they cited some tweet that was going around X that I had been picked or was under consideration for Secret Service Director. Folks, I have not had any conversations formally about that position. I've...

I'm not asking for anything. When you start asking for stuff, and folks, I'm sorry, I'm stumbling over my words because I'm not comfortable talking about myself. Can you guys just give me a little leeway? Because I know I sound like an asshole, right? I do. I'm usually clearer and more precise, and I'm stumbling all over because I'm so uncomfortable with the topic of the show being me. I mean it. I love this president, like a lot. President, president-elect, soon to be president again. My problem with D.C. for a long time, and that whole bureaucracy is...

Whenever you start asking for something, it corrupts you. And I don't ask for anything. I don't want anything. I've called him maybe five or six times over the last four or five years. And it's always been about ideological things I thought were great for the movement. And I thought my input would matter. I don't bug him about stuff. I don't bug his people about stuff. So I'm a little uncomfortable addressing it because if the president calls you and asks you something, you obviously have to take it seriously.

You do. If you love your country and your president calls you and asks you something, you have to take it seriously. But I'm telling you right now, whatever you're hearing about rumors are just rumors. Okay? No one has called me formally about anything. All right. Enough said. Because I'm screwing this thing up because I don't like talking about myself. But just leave it. They're just rumors now. And I know you guys really love the show. And I love doing the show. I love it. The president matters to me a lot. And the Secret Service matters.

is a position that's, you don't keep this guy alive, you're not going to have a president. Okay? This is probably the worst explanation I've ever done, any segment. I'm really sorry. I just don't talk about myself well. Okay, thank you. All right, moving on. I just want to congratulate one more guy too. Dan Scavino, folks, is going to be deputy chief of staff.

I'm telling you, Dan Scavino. What did I say this morning, Justin? I am not like hip with the young kid lingo, but I see online all the time that dude's an absolute G. And I'm like, that must be a good thing. Like the OG, OG, original. So Dan Scavino is a G.

I love him. He's going to be deputy chief of staff. The nicest guy in the Trump orbit. A guy who has been with me and a friend to me day one. We love you, Dan Scavino. Congratulations on being deputy chief of staff. You got him. You got Miller. You got Taylor. You got James. He surrounded himself with a great team.

Thanks for checking out our Producer Pick show on this Friday. We love it. We will be back with you live on Monday, but I'm glad you're here. We really appreciate it. We put a lot of work into these shows, and my team put a lot of work into this one, so we appreciate it. The podcast sponsored by, today, MD Hearing. You know, MD Hearing recently cut their price in half. MD Hearing just made their Neo Rechargeable Digital Hearing Aids only $297 a pair. That's over 90% less than Clinic Hearing Aid.

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The team is coming together, folks. The best way I've described it, which I heard someone kind of fleece for me last night on cable news, which is okay, which is okay. You can take it. I'd wish you'd give us credit, but whatevs.

I call them the Avengers. The Avengers are back, okay? This is the team of Avengers. But even with the Avengers, you know, you need some guys in the Avengers in there and the team, you know, you need your Hawkeyes, right? Your Hawkeyes and the people who may not be like Captain America, but they get it. They understand what humans are like. Captain America don't understand what humans are like. He took the super serum. Now he's superhuman, okay? You need a Hawkeye once in a while, right? You need that.

That's why you're getting picks like this. Rubio. Now, you know, Rubio knew a lot about the deep state spy gate thing. We got to clear that up. But there's a reason Donald Trump picked Rubio. He's not stupid, folks. Anyone in the chat have any idea? Some of you may object to this. I'm not telling you you're going to like everyone. Rubio has bona fides with both sides. We've got to cut deals, folks.

Dan, we should be, we, I'm talking about on the legislative side, we have the slimmest of buffers, slimmest of buffers. When it comes to the house, we lose one Rhino and it's going to be done. Someone gets sick. It's over. They had to pick a couple of people at, you know, let me give you a quick example in case you think I'm crazy.

Democrats and Republicans in the past have typically picked someone from the opposite party for their cabinet. You've got like the John Huntsman for Obama. Huntsman was a Republican.

I'm pretty sure Trump's not going to pick a Democrat. Could argue Tulsi, but she's now a Republican, so that's kind of different. Tulsi's been going that way for a long time. But there's a reason he picked a Rubio. He doesn't want a Democrat, but he needs a couple of guys in there who have some bipartisan appeal. And please, someone said to me yesterday, I almost lost it on the air. You're getting sawed. I'm getting sawed. Who the hell opened this show telling you about heads exploding, telling you cutesy time is over? I'm asking you not to trust me. I didn't pick him. I'm not the president.

Don't trust me. Trust him. He knows what he's doing. I promise you. When I know something from the inside, I'll tell you. I know from the horse's mouth, man. He knows exactly what he's doing. And let me tell you something. People are going to be on a short leash. Do you understand? There's not going to be any more Rex Tillerson bullshit. People are going to be on a short leash. He knows he's got two years. He's got four. No, he's got two.

He absolutely understands. Please trust me. Have I let you down yet on anything? Trust me. Please trust me. He's got a plan here. Then we got Tulsi Gabbard at DNI. I really like that pick a lot. I like Tulsi.

You know, the former Democrat thing, the abortion position bothers me a lot. But as DNI, it's not going to be about politics, going to be about national and the intel swamp. And no one has been a bigger fighter against the swamp and censorship than Tulsi Gabbard. It is what it is. And I like to pick. You're free to object. I'm not the monarch here. The thing that's great about this family is this is a family.

I am not the freaking dad, okay? I'm just one of you guys. And of course, we have Gates. This is a really strong national security team. Folks, can you imagine? If we can get Kash Patel over at FBI, that's my guy. That's my pick.

Donald Trump makes his own picks. He does not need advice from Dan. I love you, President Trump. You're my guy. I'm just telling you, I think Kash Patel. Can you imagine this dream team here? Again, you're looking at a national security crisis. You've got Hegseth. You've got Tulsi. You've got Ratcliffe. You've got Kash Patel. You've got the Secret Service Director, the ATF Director. Imagine that little Justice League table. You want them making decisions?

Or you want Lloyd Austin making decisions with his face mask and 72 masks on. That's who I want. And by the way, congratulations. CNBC finally projected to win the House majority. It was obvious. We secured the trifecta. But I'm going to say to you again, throw that up. Thank you. Thank you all. Round of applause for you. Thank you for doing it. Listen, I know a lot of you objected. I know a lot of you objected. And I respect you. A lot of you said I'm there to vote for Trump.

And I tried to explain to you that you got to pull the lever for these Republicans. Hold your nose. I know they're not the solution to your problems, but the Democrats are the cause of your problems. Are you seeing why now?

Folks, if we did not get Bernie Moreno, John Tester, excuse me, Tim Sheehy ran against John Tester. If we did not get Jim Justice, if we did not get Dave McCormick in there, are you seeing now why the Dan Bongino down ballot, not theory, but fact, works? There's no way you'll get a Gates or a Hegseth. There is no way.

If you don't have 51, you're not going to get confirmed at all. And then they can't recess appointment everyone. They can't. It would never fly. Trust this plan, man. Trust it. All the right people are losing their minds. This is what I mean by this. I want you to please, you know, get those horse blinkers on right here. Look straight ahead. This is super important. When the people who hate you and have weaponized government to destroy the Constitutional Republic, Donald Trump, and you, the MAGA crowd, when the people who hate you

are furious about something, they're furious about it for a reason because they know there is a legal reckoning coming. That's why. And Trump, you've got to trust the plan. Trust what he's doing. Now does... Gosh, I want to fuck this up. Now does it make sense why he's appointing people in this order now?

Some people, folks, are more mainstream picks. I told you yesterday, please listen to the show, and some of you got upset at me. It's fine. It's a family. I'm not the king here. I'm not the dad. I'm just part of the family like anyone else. I'm your uncle who likes some Casa Dragones once in a while. That's it. But your uncle's been around a little bit. I said to you, you're not going to like every pick because Trump is gaming this out perfectly. Folks in the chat, do you see what he's doing?

Seriously, put it in there. I'm reading. He's announcing some picks that are loyalists. He's not putting anyone who's not loyal in there, but, you know, may not have been the hardest conservatives or MAGA people in the past, but are loyal to him, and he knows they'll get the job done. Got a Rubio. You got a Noam, a Stefanik, a Lee Zeldin. I'm not knocking these people out. I'm just saying he's announcing some of them. He quiets down the temperature on a little bit,

Who's got the people's elbow? Rock it in the chat. The people's elbow comes down. The people's elbow. This is what rock them, sock them robots is. You hit them, you hit them, you hit them. Then all of a sudden they're like, oh, this doesn't hurt so much. Boom! There it is. People's elbow, man, just comes off the top rope. Macho man, savage style. Do you see what he, do you think this is, do you think this is being done by accident? Trust your guy.

No, not there. It is a chat. You guys are rocking it, man. I love you guys. Trust your guy who Dan. No. Yeah. Trust me. But Trump knows what he's doing, man. Give this guy some time. So let me just say a couple of things. Cutesy time is definitely over. All right. This is what cutesy time is over. Looks like all the right people are pissed off. And, you know, I'm giving you an honest take because I've never bullshitted you. I don't agree with Matt Gaetz on everything.

I thought the speaker plan, you heard me on the show. I wish we had an exit plan, a better ramp. I think it worked out. I mean, listen, we can work on Johnson. There's a lot to improve there. McCarthy, who knows? I mean, we'll see in the long term if we can get some legislation passed.

But let's be straight. We haven't always seen eye to eye on things. But I'm going to tell you something. When it came to the Secret Service debacle and keeping President Trump alive, I met with Matt Gaetz up at the Heritage thing when I did that little congressional hearing we did. And there's no one more concerned about keeping Trump safe than this guy. Let me show you a little Matt Gaetz for all the people freaking out. Like, oh, he's not going to get confirmed. Eh, stand by on that. You sure?

Maybe. We'll see. But there's a plan. Trust it.

Here's Matt Gaetz versus Christopher Wray. This is one of the finest clips you'll see today. This guy understands that Christopher Wray, who hopefully will be leaving his job the minute Trump is sworn in, Matt Gaetz gets it. The FBI management has worked as a singular force to destroy liberties and freedoms in the United States, and they better get a guy in there who's willing to see it for what it is. This guy sees it. Watch this. I'm sitting here with my father.

I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father. Sounds like a shakedown, doesn't it, director? I'm not going to get into commenting on that. You seem deeply uncurious about it, don't you? Almost suspiciously uncurious. Are you protecting the Bidens?

Absolutely not. The FBI has no interest in protecting anyone politically. That's a shakedown, and everybody knows why you won't answer it. Because to the millions of people who will see this, they know it is. And your inability to acknowledge that is deeply revealing about you.

Now, some, apparently some Republican senators are bitching and moaning and griping already. This guy, Andrew Desiderio says, hey, my phone's blowing up with Republican aides aghast at the nomination of Gates. Were they aghast at the nomination of Derek Farland, sometimes known as Merrick Garland? I'm not so sure. They didn't sound aghast. They were aghast-less with Merrick Garland, but now they're aghast. They're aghast. What, do you want to date him?

How many times do I get to tell you this? Michael, if I'd have said this a thousand times, what is this, a Tinder site? I don't like my kids. I don't like the way. Really? What do you want to date with them? What do you want to do? You want to you're looking for some after hour activities with them or something? What are you worried about? All I'm worried about is a guy who gets it and is going to clean up the act over there is a plus one or a minus one. I see the world transactionally as a spreadsheet. You're going to fix the government or not. That's it.

Senate Republicans, you better get your asses in line. I'm sorry. We've got a big army of people out there not really happy about what happened in the Senate with the majority leader race. We're waiting to see what happens now. This is Trump's pick. A lot of people wouldn't have jobs if it wasn't for Trump. That's a fact. You got your panties in a wad over this?

Get with the program. We already got, what, Susan Collins and others? We're not voting. Okay, fine. I promise you, Trump has a plan. Senator Susan Collins, now she opposes Mac. Of course, of course she does. Probably loves Merrick Garland. Probably thinks he's a real hero. By the way, just throwing this out there, when this happened,

I shouldn't say this. I'll say, cause this is going to sound like ex post facto, me trying to look like a ringer, but screw it. I mean, I had a feeling this is what no one, I swear to you. I, again, I had no idea, but I had a feeling this is what they were talking about. When Trump mentioned that the Madison square garden rally, they had a little secret. I wasn't sure it was going to be AG. I thought maybe FBI director or something, but I had a bit of a feeling when Donald Trump said this play that cut. We got it.

You got to get the senators elected because we can take the Senate pretty easily. And I think with our little secret, we're going to do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a secret. We'll tell you what it is when the race is over. Whatever. Talking about it after the fact sounds sounds kind of dopey. But I had a feeling I thought maybe FBI director or something. But now I think it's fairly obvious what the little secret may have been.

Folks, all the right people are furious. You know, who's I'm curious here. Bocino, this is a real poll because this is the biggest audience in conservative media digitally. There's no number two. We got one hundred and fifty one thousand people. So this is a big freaking poll of MAGA folks right here. That's the big house plus another fifty thousand. Bocino, if you're out there, get on the case.

Yes, you agree with the pick. Very simple. Why? You like the Gates pick? No, you don't. I like to say some of you may not. I'm just trying to explain to you that when Dan Bongino tells you cutesy time is over, this is what cutesy time looks like. You want a cutesy time pick? You're worried about resumes and who's going to get their lobbyist job and who's, you know, sunning their balls out on a beach in Belize and Ibiza, whatever. That's not this guy.

That's not this guy. Moore. Moore wasn't one of the technical answers, but you get two extra points for putting it in. I think we may melt the chat again. Man, you guys are blowing it up. All the right people are pissed. All the right people. I'm not a hypocrite.

Matt and I are not the best of friends. Matt and I, I've had probably five, six conversations with him. When he needs something about the Secret Service, we talk. We're not coffee buddies. I'm telling you, this is what cutesy time is over looks like. How do I know that? Folks, who is the number one deep state reporter mouthpiece for the deep state intel community? Anybody know?

Yes, Ken Delaney and Fusion Ken Delaney. When Fusion Ken Delaney and goes on TV about Matt Gates and starts melting down again, folks in the chat, who is he speaking for?

The deep state. So if Ken Delaney is saying, oh my gosh, this pick is so terrible, the deep state is freaking out. Measure the success of what you're doing by the response of your enemies. I know that's hard to digest, especially for swampies who are like the National Review crowd. Oh my gosh, we can't have John Bolton. My mustache is burning. We can't have this. When they're freaking out, you know we did something right.

Watch this. Katie, I've gotten two different texts from different people at the Justice Department who just used the word insane to respond and react to this potential appointment. And then also questioning whether Matt Gaetz can be confirmed. And one person asked me to research whether anyone had ever been nominated for the post of attorney general who had been investigated by the Justice Department. We'll have to look into that. But my initial reading is that I can't think of

any time that's ever happened in American history. And not only was Gates investigated and not charged, we should point out, in a sex trafficking investigation, but he has been perhaps among the top five most vociferous critics of the FBI and the Justice Department, and not just critics, but accusing them of being corrupt

and weaponized and unethical at every single congressional hearing that ever, anytime, he's on the Judiciary Committee, and anytime Chris Wray, the FBI director, or Merrick Garland, attorney general, or other lower officials have gone before that committee, you could count on Matt Gaetz taking aim at them in very extreme language and accusing them of unethical and corrupt behavior.

Oh my gosh, guys, did you hear that? Michael's like, forget it. Michael's like, I'm totally out on Gates. He's like, forget it, I can't do that. He accused the FBI of unethical behavior?

Justin says he's out too. Justin's 100. Justin's a Florida cat too. So is Michael. Michael's still got a lot of Wisconsin. We'll work on it. Justin's been a native his whole life. Justin has got like Sunshine State blood in him through and through. You would think he'd be a loyalist. Justin's like, I definitely can't do Matt Gaetz. He mentioned that the FBI may have been engaged in unethical behavior. And Fusion Ken says it. Justin's like, I'm sold. I'm pulling my support. He's out. He's totally out. He's like, I don't know.

I don't know, man. He's still worried about Star Wars and the Mandalorian. He's only worried about that right now. Folks, always a priority. Always gauge it by the reaction of your political opponents. I'm going to tell you something from some pretty good sourcing. Folks, the head's exploding. It ain't even done yet. You think they're upset about Gates? Oh, you just wait. You just wait.

It isn't even close to done. They're still sweating Pete Hegseth and Ratcliffe. They haven't even, they don't even know what to do about Tulsi at DNI. They have no idea. This is not the Trump dance, although it looks it. It's the Rock'em Sock'em Robots, kids. I hope you enjoyed this producer pick show. As I said, folks, there's going to be a lot of appointments that are coming in the next few weeks. As I keep telling you,

There's a limited pool of people you can take. You have to have experience and loyalty. You can't have them in critical swing seats and critical swing states where we may lose seats. So there's a lot that goes into it. President Trump's really good about hiring and firing. He has his reasons this time. Just be patient. I promise you, if they don't work out, this show is going to be the first one to call it out. You know, we're always on your side. And the only person we care about is the president and the agenda. Everything else is secondary.

So we appreciate your patience with everything. And thanks for picking this show. We deeply appreciate it. We'll be back with you here live on Monday at 11 a.m. And please give us a follow. Go to rumble.com slash Bongino on your computer, your desktop, your tablet, or if you download the Rumble app, it's free. We'd really appreciate it. Download that app. You'll get a notification when the show goes live at 11 a.m. every day. See you back here on Monday. You just heard the Dan Bongino Show.