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[00:00:00] We are joined by Kelly Leler. She's the [00:00:02] administrator of the Small Business [00:00:04] Administration, which is the biggest [00:00:06] bank in the country. People don't [00:00:08] realize just how much power the SBA [00:00:10] wields to help the economy and now [00:00:13] you're rooting out fraud. Blake has a [00:00:15] really good question though about a [00:00:16] certain variety of loans. [00:00:18] >> Yeah. So, and and other Yeah. Another [00:00:19] part of your portfolio. So, there is uh [00:00:22] it's not super famous, but it's called a [00:00:25] 8A certification. uh means basically [00:00:28] being certified as a disadvantaged firm [00:00:32] as own some would say minority owned but [00:00:35] it can also be womenowned or certain [00:00:36] other groupings and it makes you [00:00:38] eligible for c for favorable federal [00:00:40] treatment and it's getting noticed by a [00:00:43] lot of people especially online. This is [00:00:44] a vector the federal government has used [00:00:46] for let's just call it DEI or as we say [00:00:49] in the show anti anti-white [00:00:50] discrimination anti-white male [00:00:52] discrimination and my understanding is [00:00:53] this does still exist within the SBA. So [00:00:56] could you talk to us a bit about that? [00:00:58] >> Blake, you're right. Now let's just [00:01:00] level set on what small businesses. It [00:01:02] makes up 99% of all businesses in this [00:01:04] country. And under President Trump, we [00:01:05] have a record 36 million. There's a [00:01:08] group of small businesses that are uh [00:01:11] under statute entitled to about 5% [00:01:14] statutoily of federal contracting. So [00:01:17] small businesses that are socially and [00:01:19] economically disadvantaged. Well, under [00:01:21] Biden that they tripled that target to [00:01:24] 15% and it created a big vacuum for [00:01:27] veteranowned businesses to get federal [00:01:28] contracts. Well, what we found in that [00:01:31] was it was a front for Shell and pass [00:01:33] through companies to put someone in [00:01:35] front of the the business uh and say [00:01:38] that they were a small business that [00:01:40] they were socially and economically they [00:01:41] self-certified that they were [00:01:42] disadvantaged and then they were able to [00:01:44] get these huge contracts. Now, when [00:01:46] Camala was searching out root causes, [00:01:49] she put of immigration, illegal [00:01:52] immigration, she put a $700 million [00:01:55] contract out and it ended up coming [00:01:57] through bribery. The DOJ is [00:01:59] investigating it through an AA program. [00:02:01] Now, that's not a small business that [00:02:02] does a $700 million contract. [00:02:04] >> And there's other ones. I remember I [00:02:06] think when that hurricane hit Puerto [00:02:08] Rico a decade ago, there was an issue [00:02:10] where they hired like a one it was a I [00:02:12] think a black woman owned a company to [00:02:13] supply like 50,000 meals to the island [00:02:16] and that was a disaster and it never [00:02:17] happened. And I have I've personally had [00:02:19] friends who have set up [00:02:21] >> a business to get a government contract [00:02:24] where they just cut in a guy who was [00:02:26] part Native American or something and [00:02:28] said you get 51% of it. We'll do the [00:02:30] work. We get our cut, you get your cut. [00:02:32] It just seems to clearly incentivize [00:02:34] that. And so I guess as you say, [00:02:36] Congress requires this to exist. [00:02:38] >> It but they don't require it to be rife [00:02:40] with abuse. It has never been audited in [00:02:43] its 45 year history. It came in under [00:02:45] Carter. We are conducting the first [00:02:47] audit in 45 years. And we've what we've [00:02:50] already found is a lot of malfeasants, a [00:02:53] lot of fraud. We're going to get to the [00:02:54] bottom of it. We're going to clean up [00:02:55] the program and make sure deserving [00:02:57] entrepreneurs get these opportunities. [00:03:00] So, this brings up this it's been [00:03:03] percolating, bubbling up a little bit [00:03:05] because of all this fraud. And this is a [00:03:07] reintroduction of this conversation [00:03:09] about Doge. I thought Doge was amazing. [00:03:11] Charlie always loved Doge because it [00:03:13] changed the culture and the focus in DC [00:03:17] to actually start rooting some of this [00:03:18] stuff out. But then you have this [00:03:19] falling out between Elon Musk, even Elon [00:03:21] and Scott Bessant. And it got all messy. [00:03:24] We acknowledge that. But there is a [00:03:25] coming back together. I mean, uh, Pete [00:03:28] Hagset just announced a partnership with [00:03:30] Grock and XAI. What can So, what h what [00:03:33] is going on with Doge? How would you [00:03:35] guys at SBA use it? How did you use it? [00:03:38] And can we can we reignite this culture [00:03:41] uh to to to root out some of this fraud? [00:03:43] >> Yeah, Doge was incredibly important in [00:03:46] kicking off what uh is accountability in [00:03:49] government. It helped us facilitate a [00:03:51] lot of the changes that we made very, [00:03:53] very quickly. Um and the mindset remains [00:03:56] in this administration which is right [00:03:58] sizing the government. We've cut our [00:04:00] agency by 52% in terms of headcount, 30% [00:04:03] by spending in just the first year and [00:04:06] we've done more business than ever. That [00:04:07] is a doge mindset and that's what we [00:04:09] have to continue to have. Uh I hope that [00:04:12] that it will stay within every agency in [00:04:14] terms of what they look at is data. We [00:04:17] we simply go through and look at the [00:04:18] data and accountability who's doing what [00:04:20] and what are the results. How [00:04:21] >> and now is Palunteer involved in this? [00:04:23] Well, uh, [00:04:24] >> I know there's been a lot of like [00:04:26] there's a lot of weird theories and [00:04:27] conspiracies around Palunteer. [00:04:29] Basically, what Palanteer is, as far as [00:04:31] far as I understand, send us your emails [00:04:32] freedom at charliekirk.com if you think [00:04:34] I'm wrong, it's basically getting [00:04:35] databases to talk to one another. So, [00:04:37] you cross reference different agencies [00:04:38] and what they know and you can root out [00:04:40] fraud that way, which seems very common [00:04:42] sense to I actually independently [00:04:44] brought on Palunteer because this scale [00:04:46] of the fraud that we're looking at is so [00:04:49] vital that we use AI that we we are data [00:04:52] driven in our analytics and that we have [00:04:54] the support externally because there's a [00:04:56] lot of resistance internally to uh right [00:04:59] sizing the federal government and [00:05:00] tracking down fraud. [00:05:01] >> How big is your staff at? [00:05:03] >> Well, we we've gone from about 8,000 to [00:05:05] about 4,000 now. [00:05:06] >> Wow. [00:05:06] >> Yeah. [00:05:07] >> So, we uh we do more with less. We're [00:05:10] like a small business. We're very [00:05:11] efficient to have the economic of impact [00:05:14] that we do. We estimate it's about a [00:05:15] trillion dollars annually when you take [00:05:17] a leverage impact of putting out a [00:05:18] hundred billion a year. Uh I should say [00:05:21] a trillion dollars over the four-year [00:05:22] term of President Trump. And it's [00:05:24] meaningful on Main Street because small [00:05:26] businesses create two out of every three [00:05:28] new jobs. [00:05:29] >> Wow. I mean, I I'll just be honest. I'm [00:05:32] uh sort of sitting here feeling [00:05:33] educated. I hope the audience is getting [00:05:35] a lot out of this because I I candidly [00:05:37] didn't fixate on SBA that much. They [00:05:39] didn't think about it that much, but [00:05:40] it's it's apparent. I mean, if Trump's [00:05:42] calling you the biggest bank in the [00:05:43] country, that mean that that says a lot. [00:05:45] >> He knows banks. [00:05:46] >> He knows banks. [00:05:46] >> I think he's being kind. But I think he [00:05:48] knows how important small business and [00:05:50] Main Street is. He always says to me, [00:05:51] Kelly, small business is big business. [00:05:53] He loves our job creators. Like I said, [00:05:55] I just came from a construction site, [00:05:58] hard hats and everything. These are the [00:05:59] people who make this country great, and [00:06:02] we've got to support them and get big [00:06:03] government out of the way and get back [00:06:05] to supporting free enterprise. Well, in [00:06:07] this is ridding it of this DEI stuff, [00:06:09] this anti-white garbage, ridding of it [00:06:12] of the fraud. I mentioned Scott Bessant [00:06:13] before. Let's go ahead and play this. I [00:06:15] think this is from yesterday, the day [00:06:16] before. He's talking about how much [00:06:18] fraud we're dealing with. Uh 384. [00:06:22] >> We are going to hold people accountable. [00:06:25] We're going to uh press this to the full [00:06:30] extent possible for American taxpayers, [00:06:32] for American families. the the GAO the [00:06:35] general accounting office believes that [00:06:37] there is somewhere between 3 and 600 [00:06:41] billion of annual fraud roughly 10% of [00:06:44] government spending that disappears due [00:06:47] to fraud. If we can recapture that that [00:06:51] is 1 to 2% of GDP. [00:06:54] So, Kelly, let's end this where Scott [00:06:56] ended this. Economics, the e the [00:06:59] economy. It's rip roaring, but it Scott [00:07:02] has also said we were setting the table [00:07:03] in 2025. This year, we get to enjoy the [00:07:06] feast and banquet. Are you seeing that? [00:07:07] >> Absolutely. I see it every day. I mean, [00:07:09] the Trump economic agenda is rocket fuel [00:07:11] for Main Street, for this country. We [00:07:14] see GDP growth. We see wage growth, [00:07:16] inflation coming down, interest rates [00:07:18] coming down. These factors together with [00:07:21] deregulating is making sure that this [00:07:23] economy is primed for 2026 and beyond. [00:07:26] We're just getting started. $18 trillion [00:07:28] dollars pouring into this country and [00:07:29] investment. We've never seen anything [00:07:30] like it. [00:07:31] >> Yeah. And all the the data centers, the [00:07:33] AI, the crypto, the small businesses. [00:07:35] And by the way, if you're deploying [00:07:37] capital more efficiently to better [00:07:40] operators and you're getting rid of this [00:07:41] DEI garbage, [00:07:43] >> you're going to end up getting a bigger [00:07:44] multiplier force multiplier on the [00:07:46] backside. It's going to have a bigger [00:07:47] economic impact. Friends, the Charlie [00:07:49] Kirk show team here. America's debt bomb [00:07:51] has blown past $ 37 trillion and it's [00:07:55] climbing every second. President Trump [00:07:57] is fighting for fair trade and strong [00:07:59] borders to slow the train wreck. But the [00:08:01] numbers don't lie. When debt grows this [00:08:03] fast, it can threaten your savings and [00:08:05] your family's future. That's why more [00:08:07] Americans are turning to real assets [00:08:09] like gold and silver. I work with and [00:08:11] recommend Preserve Gold. They make it [00:08:13] simple to own physical gold and silver, [00:08:15] even inside your retirement accounts, [00:08:17] like an IRA or 401k. Text USA to 5050 [00:08:22] for their free wealth protection guide. [00:08:24] With a qualified purchase, you could get [00:08:26] up to $20,000 in free gold or silver. [00:08:33] So SBA is this this engine sort of [00:08:36] behind the scenes providing capital de [00:08:39] you know taking some of the risk out of [00:08:40] these capital arrangements with riskier [00:08:43] small business startups but then there's [00:08:45] this other side of it that you've [00:08:46] inherited where there is fraud that you [00:08:48] are uncovering now we're talking about [00:08:50] Somali fraud we're talking about [00:08:52] foreigners coming in again building off [00:08:53] the system what have you uncovered what [00:08:56] are you investigating right now [00:08:57] >> well that's right I mean from day one we [00:09:00] came in and I said, "I will have a zero [00:09:01] tolerance policy on fraud." We convened [00:09:04] a task force right away. I called for an [00:09:06] audit of the agency. The agency hadn't [00:09:09] passed an audit in four years, and [00:09:10] President Trump likes to say, "You're [00:09:12] the biggest bank in the country." Well, [00:09:14] guess what? The biggest bank in the [00:09:15] country is going to finally have an [00:09:16] audit where we're accountable for the [00:09:18] shortcomings. That includes [00:09:19] investigating fraud. We need a number on [00:09:21] this. [00:09:21] >> Yeah. Headline right here. SBA [00:09:23] investigating 1.2 trillion. [00:09:26] >> That is with a T. We've seen a lot of [00:09:28] B's floating around with Somali fraud. 9 [00:09:30] 19 billion whatever the number there [00:09:32] >> and to give a number on suspected fraud [00:09:33] specifically their internal logic in [00:09:35] 2023 so this is Biden era they said [00:09:38] about uh estimated $200 billion in [00:09:42] potential fraud with the PPP loans [00:09:45] >> run through SBA [00:09:46] >> that it was one that's the 1.2 2 [00:09:48] trillion that ran through SBA during [00:09:50] COVID. Well, our own IG said that about [00:09:53] 200 billion was marked as fraudulent. [00:09:55] And guess what the Biden administration [00:09:57] did? They started forgiving it, sweeping [00:09:59] it under the rug. Exactly right, Blake. [00:10:01] And so we came in and said, "We're going [00:10:03] back. We're looking at it all." And [00:10:04] that's what we did when it came to [00:10:06] Minnesota. As soon as that came on the [00:10:07] radar, I asked the team to dig through [00:10:09] the Minnesota loans. They immediately [00:10:11] found about 7,000 borrowers, 400 million [00:10:15] in fraudulent loans in Minnesota alone. [00:10:18] That tells you that there are billions [00:10:20] and billions out the door fraudulently [00:10:23] to thousands that should never touch SBA [00:10:25] services again and they need to be [00:10:26] referred to the DOJ and that's what [00:10:28] we're doing. [00:10:28] >> Are are these mostly Somali networks or [00:10:30] is it kind of across the board or [00:10:32] >> It's it's widespread. We're [00:10:34] investigating further to see how [00:10:36] systemic it is because the level of of [00:10:39] fraud is almost organized and um I've [00:10:42] called it organized crime in some cases [00:10:45] and we need to look across all [00:10:46] government programs and see where people [00:10:48] are systemically defrauding the [00:10:50] government. It's a thing that stands out [00:10:51] about this, which is if you or I were to [00:10:53] say, "Okay, I want to scam Medicaid." [00:10:56] And you just went to 20 people we know [00:10:58] and said, "Hey, I have an idea to scam [00:11:00] Medicaid." One, a lot, I think, would [00:11:02] say no. I I think they'd all say no. And [00:11:04] some of them might say, "I'm going to [00:11:06] call the police." I think this is a [00:11:07] crime. Well, and what you have some [00:11:09] communities that we've voluntarily [00:11:11] brought into our country where that's [00:11:12] just not the natural reaction where [00:11:14] they'll either 100% say nothing or a lot [00:11:16] of them will help you. Well, because [00:11:18] they don't feel culturally tied or their [00:11:21] heritage is not tied to the the the [00:11:23] proud culture. [00:11:24] >> It's wrong to scam your cousin or your [00:11:26] brother, but not to scam the government. [00:11:27] >> And and to your point, I totally agree [00:11:28] that it is organized because, you know, [00:11:30] we think of organized crime as the [00:11:32] Italian mafia, [00:11:33] >> but so often it's these these [00:11:35] >> an immigrant cabal. [00:11:36] >> Well, yes, exactly. But but that's, you [00:11:39] know, those are the movies and, you [00:11:41] know, it's been it's been [00:11:42] sensationalized, but so often it's just [00:11:44] more subtle than that. It's it's a [00:11:45] cousin calling a cousin saying, "Here, [00:11:47] listen. and I figured out this way. You [00:11:48] should go set up your own, you know, [00:11:50] child care center over here. You should [00:11:52] do this or listen, we we found a way to [00:11:54] smuggle all this money back to Somalia. [00:11:56] It's more subtle. It's less dramatic, [00:11:58] less, you know, movie Hollywood, but [00:12:00] it's massively insidious and widespread. [00:12:03] >> Well, especially when there's no [00:12:04] oversight. And so, we are going to go [00:12:05] state by state and look for those states [00:12:08] like Minnesota that really as their [00:12:11] largest expenditure is welfare. And in [00:12:14] the federal government, I'm talking [00:12:15] that's at the state level. In the [00:12:17] federal government, we operate about a [00:12:18] trillion dollars worth of welfare [00:12:20] programs across 80 unique systems. And [00:12:24] so, we really need to have a hard look [00:12:25] at that. And that's what's great about [00:12:26] the working families tax cut that was [00:12:28] passed this year. There's a lot of [00:12:30] verification that's now required. [00:12:32] There's work requirements. We're going [00:12:34] to start cracking down on this very [00:12:35] systemically ourselves because we can't [00:12:37] trust the states to do it. Particularly [00:12:39] those like California, Illinois, [00:12:41] Minnesota, and others who've shown a [00:12:43] willful disdain for taxpayer dollars. [00:12:45] And by the way, small businesses are [00:12:47] some of the biggest taxpayers. And so [00:12:49] that's part of my advocacy is to say, [00:12:51] I'm going to make sure these programs [00:12:52] are going to deserving job creators on [00:12:54] Main Street. [00:12:55] >> Yeah. And it's like you know them when [00:12:57] you see them. [00:12:57] >> Absolutely. [00:12:58] >> You know the real deal companies that [00:13:00] should be getting the backing of the [00:13:01] SBA. And here's President Trump just [00:13:03] having your back here. Cut 313. He's [00:13:06] suspending SBA loans. Uh it sounds like [00:13:10] specifically with scammers in Minnesota. [00:13:11] 313. [00:13:13] >> We have also suspended nearly 8,000 SBA [00:13:16] loans, small business association loans [00:13:20] to suspected scammers in Minnesota, of [00:13:23] which there are many. It's a great [00:13:25] state. It was a great state. Now it's [00:13:26] getting destroyed by that stupid [00:13:29] governor. What a stupid guy he is. But [00:13:32] he's a crook. I mean, he's a incompetent [00:13:35] guy, but he's a crook. He allowed this [00:13:36] to go. You can't have [00:13:40] you can't have corruption on a scale [00:13:41] that nobody's ever seen before. And [00:13:43] you're sitting as a governor and you [00:13:44] don't know what's going on. It's [00:13:45] impossible. Even though he's a stupid [00:13:47] guy. [00:13:48] >> It's a good It's a really important, you [00:13:50] know, I love this about President Trump [00:13:52] that he gets his instincts are almost [00:13:54] always right. So, when you guys are at [00:13:57] the SBA are working on rooting out this [00:14:00] fraud, auditing it, this task force, [00:14:04] have you gotten any cooperation from the [00:14:05] state of Minnesota? [00:14:07] >> Well, of course not. And um we've even [00:14:09] had other state governors attack us for [00:14:13] looking into Minnesota. So, that tells [00:14:14] you it it lays another pretty strong [00:14:16] trail of breadcrumbs. And um we're going [00:14:19] to continue to do that. The president [00:14:20] has been right about everything. He's [00:14:22] right about fraud. and we're going to [00:14:23] continue to do it because first of all [00:14:25] it's right for the taxpayers and second [00:14:27] of all it's creating an incentive system [00:14:30] when it goes unchecked to do it even [00:14:32] more. So imagine that if 20% as as [00:14:35] Treasury Secretary Bessant said 20% of [00:14:37] all these programs are fraudulent [00:14:39] someday it could become 30% of an even [00:14:42] larger number because these programs [00:14:43] continue to grow. Well, and CO really I [00:14:45] mean Blake I you know calling me the [00:14:47] normie. Blake was actually the guy that [00:14:49] uh during some of the aftermath of COVID [00:14:52] and the these loans that went out and [00:14:54] these scam artists that would set up [00:14:55] like a transportation company and it was [00:14:57] like I mean this became a meme online [00:15:00] because you could all spot it how it was [00:15:02] you know how what it was what it looked [00:15:03] like. [00:15:03] >> You could find obvious scam businesses. [00:15:05] One employee very recently created and [00:15:09] >> consulting aing centering. Exactly. [00:15:12] >> Yeah. And so co unleashed a lot of this [00:15:15] and I think you're completely right [00:15:17] administrator Leler [00:15:18] >> that Kelly that that when you do not [00:15:21] police this you're only going to [00:15:23] incentivize the creation of more and [00:15:25] more and more fraud. Uh 30 seconds we [00:15:27] got a break. [00:15:29] >> The response to you [00:15:30] >> absolutely well and that's our [00:15:31] commitment to small businesses and [00:15:33] taxpayers is that we're just getting [00:15:35] started. We're not letting up. We're not [00:15:36] like dusting off our hands and saying [00:15:38] we've sent it over to the DOJ. This has [00:15:40] given us a playbook really a blueprint [00:15:42] of how we go state by state now and how [00:15:44] we handle this. This needs to become a a [00:15:47] expertise of the government is tracking [00:15:49] down fraud. [00:15:49] >> Kelly Leler um former senator, you have [00:15:53] a rich history in the state of Georgia. [00:15:55] You're now in the Trump administration, [00:15:57] but you know, we were we were joking. I [00:16:00] think the best place to start for our [00:16:01] audience is for you to just describe [00:16:03] what the Small Business Administration [00:16:05] does. [00:16:06] >> Well, you're right, Andrew. As we were [00:16:09] talking, uh, a lot of people don't know [00:16:10] the Small Business Administration is [00:16:12] essentially a public private [00:16:14] partnership. We're not giving grants out [00:16:16] to small businesses. We're providing a [00:16:18] government guarantee on commercial loans [00:16:22] for your local community banker to have [00:16:24] the incentive to make that loan to a [00:16:26] startup business to help that community [00:16:29] have flourishing small businesses, have [00:16:31] an ecosystem of startups and expansion. [00:16:34] And that that goes into even [00:16:35] manufacturing. Most manufacturers in [00:16:37] America meet the small business [00:16:39] threshold of [00:16:40] >> What is the threshold? [00:16:41] >> Well, it it depends on your industry, [00:16:43] but for manufacturing, you can have up [00:16:44] to,500 employees as long as you're not [00:16:48] over the net worth uh level. And that's [00:16:50] why 98% of America's manufacturers uh [00:16:53] qualify as small businesses. I just came [00:16:55] from a great small business [00:16:57] manufacturing startup in Tempe just down [00:17:00] the road. And this is the heartbeat of [00:17:02] America. And you've got everything [00:17:04] coming uh bringing to bear there from [00:17:06] the capital that SBA provided for this [00:17:08] uh facility to the skilled workforce. [00:17:10] You know, I met some of the contractors [00:17:12] there uh in hard hats. And this is what [00:17:14] it's all about in the in the Trump [00:17:16] administration. His economic agenda is [00:17:18] going to create more and more of that. [00:17:19] It's why we set a record in 2025 of [00:17:22] putting out 85,000 [00:17:24] small business loans totaling 45 billion [00:17:27] dollar. the economic multiplier effect [00:17:29] of getting 85 billion dollars out, you [00:17:32] know, is huge. [00:17:34] >> There's there's also a trade deficit. [00:17:36] This is a lot of news this morning. So, [00:17:37] the US trade deficit is at one of its [00:17:40] lowest points in at least recent memory, [00:17:42] last couple decades. You put up a tweet [00:17:44] here, 370. The trade deficit has reached [00:17:46] its lowest level in nearly two decades, [00:17:48] while our exports hit a record high of [00:17:50] 302 billion. So, President Trump's fair [00:17:53] trade policy is restoring America's [00:17:54] industrial dominance and strength. So, [00:17:56] obviously, we have we have [00:17:58] much further to go. Uh but you know, and [00:18:01] then we've got this tariff question that [00:18:03] is looming. The Supreme Court's going to [00:18:05] rule on that. I do believe even just we [00:18:07] had John Carney on uh Breitbart [00:18:10] economics uh editor there saying that [00:18:12] even if the Supreme Court rules against [00:18:14] this, there's other levels levers the [00:18:16] Trump administration could pull to [00:18:18] still, you know, enact tariffs because [00:18:20] they are powerful. How have you seen [00:18:22] those play out with small businesses? [00:18:24] Because, you know, some small business [00:18:26] are probably going to see a negative [00:18:28] impact, but a lot are going to see a [00:18:29] positive impact. [00:18:31] >> Absolutely. I mean, I've crossed this [00:18:32] country from Alaska to Maine, walking [00:18:35] factory floors, talking to builders, [00:18:37] entrepreneurs. Uh, look, when you hear [00:18:40] the word tariff, think fair trade. And [00:18:43] that's what this country has not had. [00:18:45] And I am just grateful for President [00:18:47] Trump for his courage and his vision to [00:18:50] believe in American industry uh to help [00:18:53] us re-industrialize. And you look at [00:18:55] every part of the Trump economic agenda [00:18:57] from tax cuts to deregulation [00:19:00] uh to generating a skilled workforce and [00:19:02] those incentives to get back in the [00:19:03] workforce. Uh and you see the building [00:19:06] of this boom on top of the $18 trillion [00:19:09] coming in. So look, tariffs are just one [00:19:11] piece of it, but they're an important [00:19:12] piece that we haven't had. And everyone [00:19:14] forgets that Biden had a rose garden [00:19:17] ceremony adding tariffs to China during [00:19:19] his term that the Democrats never put. [00:19:21] >> It felt like this this uh crazy scenario [00:19:24] where America was just willing to get [00:19:26] fleeced in countless ways because we [00:19:29] were we had like almost like this guilt [00:19:31] about being the richest most powerful [00:19:33] nation. So we we didn't feel that we had [00:19:35] the moral standing to exert our force to [00:19:38] benefit our own people. So we just let [00:19:39] everybody else have you know trade [00:19:41] barriers to us. We let everybody else uh [00:19:43] build off the American military.