Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers with a Microphone

On September 30, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a "State of the Force" address to members of the US military. Scott and I watched it, and we have opinions. Hegseth's framing of merit demonstrates that he judges merit on identity rather than...actual merit. Some cannot be effective because he thinks they are "beardos, weirdos, trannies." He suggested that unity matters more than diversity...

Trump spoke at the UN General Assembly on the Iran war and US foreign policy with a clear message to the Iranian government: Make a deal or "I'll annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly." A not so subtle threat to use nuclear weapons. Trump also bragged about stealing Venezuelan oil reserves. Domestic and international reactions were immediate: this is a breakdown of the international ru...

We've seen a lot of developments in the Iran War over the last few weeks. Iran fired a ballistic missile at the USS George Washington, a Ford class aircraft carrier. Didn't hit it, but did the effort help Iran build the technology needed? Did Russian and/or China help? Iran also claimed to have captured a US drone submarine...quite the technology find...and attacked ten vessels attempting to move...

Even while the entire US is pretty much on fire we still see the occasional good governance...and this is a good sign. This week we try to find examples of government actually...governing. Passing legislation. Completing reports. Doing its job. Starting with the SCOTUS ruling that blocked Trump's effort to use the Postal Service to disrupt the midterm elections, we discuss some of the boring thing...

This week we take a look at the Trump clown show presidency and how this farce could turn tragic pretty quickly. All the silliness we see from the Trump Administration, from AI generated memes on Truth Social to mocking the rule of law to claiming Trump is the only person in the world who can resolve any problems. Too bad he seems to have no interest in doing so. We even have an academic article o...

Today we’re digging into a question that’s been building for years: Is Donald Trump’s governing strategy — the “fait accompli” strategy — finally approaching a tipping point? Trump acts first. Everyone else reacts later. He creates a new reality, then forces Congress, courts, states, agencies, and opponents to scramble. And he uses delay, appeals, bureaucratic inertia, and political intimidation t...

Sixteen years ago, anger and frustration with the Republican response to the election of Barack Obama, the government response to the financial crisis of 2007, and passage of the Affordable Care Act gave birth to the Tea Party Patriots, a conservative insurgency against the GOP from the right. This year, anger and frustration with the establishment Democratic response to the second election of Tru...

For his entire life, Donald Trump has put his name on everything he could. Buildings. Steaks. Casinos. Wine. A fake university. Now he wants to add it to government buildings, money, and passports. Kennedy Center. Airports. Hundred dollar bills and one dollar coins. Then he starts posting ridiculous AI images of himself with Patton, McArthur, Washington, and others. He cosplays as Jesus, complete...

Five months into the war against Iran, the US has achieved nothing but a stalemate. After spending close to $40T in taxpayer money and launching something like have the US inventory of munitions - making the US more vulnerable to attacks from China - Iran and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps have not been brought to heel. In fact, they've all but closed the Strait of Hormuz and could block it co...

As billionaires and corporations push artificial intelligence (AI), developers push construction of larger and larger data centers - enormous facilities full of computer chips that require as much energy and water as a small city, destroy neighborhoods with noise and local pollution, but provide few permanent jobs or economic activity. Virginia already has more data centers than any other state bu...

Trump has fired the three sitting members of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and will give a speech on Thursday July 16 to release newly declassified documents related to the 2020 Presidential Election. Congress created the EAC as part of the Help America Vote Act in 2002 to help States and local governments streamline and standardize election processes to avoid the kind of problems that...

Last week, the most conservative Supreme Court we've seen in my lifetime finally got one right and ruled that the 14th Amendment protects birthright citizenship and Donald Trump cannot rob children born in the US of that citizenship because of the parents' status... ...and now the nativists on the right wing are freaking out about it. Scott and I discuss whether this is simply their racism and rel...

This week the US Supreme Court ruled that States may count mailed ballots that were postmarked on time but did not arrive until after the formal Election Day. Meanwhile, Donald Trump issued an executive order telling the US Postal Service not to deliver mailed ballots in States that have not handed over their voter lists, and the right is up in arms over bar codes. Scott once again shares his elec...

Scott and I meet with Hurley Lucchese, rising high school senior and local community activist, is part of an age cohort just now starting to think about politics and what the state of the world them shapes their futures. We sit down with him to pick his brain, and he shares some key insights, starting with his volunteer efforts and why he gets involved. Hurley shares his thoughts on foreign policy...

In this episode of the Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers podcast, Scott and I sit down with Elizabeth Dempsey-Beggs, former Armor officer, foster parent, and candidate for Congress in Virginia's First District. We talk policy, the state of her campaign, and why we need fundamental change in the US. Elizabeth is one of seven Democratic candidates running for a chance to face Rob Wittman, a Republican...

In this episode of the Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers podcast, Scott and I sit down with Tim Cywinski, community activist, and candidate for Congress in Virginia's First District. We talk policy, the state of his campaign, and why we need fundamental change in the US. Tim is one of seven Democratic candidates running for a chance to face Rob Wittman, a Republican who has represented the District f...

In this episode of the Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers podcast, Scott and I sit down with Ericka Kopp, attorney, activist, and candidate for Congress in Virginia's First District. We talk policy, the state of his campaign, and why we need fundamental change in the US. Ericka is one of seven Democratic candidates running for a chance to face Rob Wittman, a Republican who has represented the District...

In this episode of the Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers podcast, Scott and I sit down with Salaam Bhatti, attorney, activist, and candidate for Congress in Virginia's First District. We talk policy, the state of his campaign, and why we need fundamental change in the US. Salaam is one of seven Democratic candidates running for a chance to face Rob Wittman, a Republican who has represented the Distri...

In this episode of Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers with a Microphone, Scott and I discuss America's 250th birthday, some of the celebrations planned, and how this year compares to the 200th in 1976 (yes, we're old enough to remember the Bicentennial as adults). Why the heck does Trump want a UFC fight on the White House lawn? Why are music artists pulling out of the National State Fair? We poke a b...

Now that the redistricting question is settled (for now at least), Congressional candidates are ramping up for the last two months before the Democratic primary in August. In this special episode of Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers with a Microphone, Scott and I sit down with retired Navy Commander Jason Knapp, candidate for Congress in Virginia's First Congressional District. Jason grew up in a sin...

Donald Trump has had a good week. He wanted Massie gone from Congress for pushing the Epstein Files release. He wanted Cassidy gone from the Senate for voting to impeach him after the J6 insurrection. He wanted Indiana legislators gone for refusing to gerrymander Congressional districts when he demanded it. His candidates beat them all. Then his lickspittles in the Department of Justice agreed to...

Right in the middle of the Iran war Trump started but can't figure out how to finish, he heads off to China with an entourage of family members and billionaire CEOs, including Elon Musk and Jensen Huang, NVIDIA CEO. Why? Does he need China to save his ass in Iran? Will he sell out the US by agreeing to sell AI computer chip technology? Will he find a way to line his own pockets even more in the pr...

Earlier this week we reported an interesting lack of Iran War news coverage and discussed the structural reasons for these media choices and some reasons the Trump Administration might want to suppress news about the war. Now the Washington Post has published an extensive article outlining the extensive damage Iranian missiles have done to US military installations in the region and the depletion...

Scott Konopasek and I get together for a discussion of the US media, and why we don't see more reporting on the most important thing happening in the world right now: the Iran War, which just turned hot again. Yes, SCOTUS decisions on voting and reproductive rights matter. But the central issue of the day is the Iran War and its costs, in both lives and national treasure. People are dying. Oil sup...

In this Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers with a Microphone episode, Scott and I break down a chaotic week in American politics—from a major Supreme Court of the United States ruling impacting the Voting Rights Act, to escalating tensions in the Iran conflict, to the growing controversy around partisan redistricting in Virginia, trying to connect multiple political dots: The Supreme Court’s latest de...