Memorial Day: Remembering The Fallen w/ Sen. Tim Sheehy
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Joining us on the line for Memorial Day is Senator Tim Sheehy. Obviously, he has military experience himself because, of course, he is a former Navy SEAL officer. Senator, thanks so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. Thanks, Ben. Good to see you. So, you know, obviously, a huge majority of Americans haven't served in the military on Memorial Day. It's easy to forget what the day is about because people sort of treat it as vacation day in the United States. What should Americans be thinking about on Memorial Day?

It should be thinking about the men and women that are still deployed overseas. That's actually where I will be spending Memorial Day as I'm leaving this weekend to head overseas to where I see our deployed troops from Montana and our Special Operations Forces that I used to be a part of. Visiting them for deployed where they are, although most Americans don't feel like we're at war, the truth is around the world, the American empire and the American ideal are

over the world and requires us to defend it constantly and right now in the red sea we've had the longest continuous run of naval combat since world war ii our soldiers sailors airmen and marines are over there constantly fighting the houthis which are a proxy arm of iran to keep those sea lanes open and keep commerce flowing worldwide it's an incredibly important mission and that's what americans should be thinking about on world day have fun have a barbecue go water skiing do whatever you want to do that's great we're proud to have americans enjoy their day off

but just do so remembering that you're allowed to do those things because a very small number of men and women have chosen to stand on the wall and protect your ability to do that. - Senator Sheehy, one of the things that the Trump administration has really put a lot of focus on is rebuilding the American military, changing the way that people think about the American military. If you're grading the Trump administration's efforts so far in terms of the Department of Defense, the American military, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth's performance, how would you grade it so far?

It's a solid A, Ben. Turning an organization the size of the DoD is a great challenge. It's like trying to turn an aircraft carrier, quite literally. But they've come in with a purpose, with an aggression that's absolutely needed. They've reformed and refocused our military. It's not perfect yet. It's going to take some time. But as you well know, during the Obama years and then especially during the last four Biden years, which, as you know, is basically with the same foreign policy extension, except far worse.

was we saw weakness all over the world and that weakness abets enemy strength. And we saw that when we pulled out of Afghanistan, that kicked off a domino effect that led to the Russia-Ukraine war, led to the disgusting Hamas attack on Israel and the proxies all over the region becoming emboldened. And what we've seen in the last 120 days is strength, focus, and aggression to make sure our military is focused on one thing, and that is killing the enemy and bringing home our men and women alive.

Senator Sheehy, obviously there's a lot of concern about China out there. China is in fact a rising geopolitical enemy of the United States. A lot of concern about the ability of the United States military to combat China in places like the South China Sea, the possibility of a Chinese blockade around Taiwan. How worried should we be about that? And what does that mean in terms of military development?

We should be very worried, Ben, because you'll hear the term near-peer conflict thrown around all the time. We've got to be ready for near-peer, near-peer this, near-peer that. I don't know who they think the near-peer is, but the reality is right now China builds ships 230 times faster than we do. They have a standing army that by some accounts is 10 times bigger than ours is.

Just about a week and a half ago, last week, we had Pakistan and India face off in an air dominance battle that really we haven't seen an air superiority battle like that in several decades. It appears as if the Chinese integrated air dominance technology beat the Western technology five to zero. So that's a very big concern for those of us who are watching carefully because

We all hope we don't have to go to war again. Ben, I know you hope that. Your family and friends in Israel have been fighting for the last year and a half. We know how brutal war is. We do not want to go to war, but we owe it to our people, especially our young men and women in uniform, that we are ready for the war when it comes. And America, unfortunately, and our track record,

is we usually have to absorb a lot of pain and a lot of losses before we change our behavior. And last time we had great power competition in the Pacific, we got our ass kicked for the first year. There's a lot of ships at the bottom of the ocean and a lot of dead Americans because we were not ready to face off against this threat. Right now, China has been preparing. They are more prepared than we are. We've seen a massive atrophy of our base infrastructure in the Pacific and most importantly,

our ability to build, replace, and maintain our naval vessels, which have been the guarantors of freedom of navigation around the entire world for the last 80 years. So I'm very concerned, Ben. I know that many of my former, sorry, many of my comrades in the Senate are equally concerned on both sides of the aisle, I might add. Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia has been a great voice of reason, too, in this saying we need to make sure our Navy's ready. So we've got a lot of work to do. I think Pete's up to the job, and the President has very clearly said it's time for us to get ready.

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take Taiwan, destroy TSMC, or seize control of TSMC, the consequences of an America-free world or a world where America really has retreated within its own borders, those are disastrous consequences for American citizens living here at home.

You're absolutely right. And that's something that Americans don't like to think of ourselves as a military empire of projecting force around the world. We like to think of ourselves as, hey, we want to mind our own business here at home and we'll deal with a problem if it comes to us. And that's certainly a noble cause. And I think for the most part, we all agree with that. But the truth is, unfortunately, we have to be ready to defend our interests globally. And frankly, that goes back to the beginning in our Constitution. Our founding fathers in our Constitution stated very clearly that

that we are constitutionally required to provide and maintain a Navy. And the reason why is because building a Navy takes time. It's expensive, it's hard, and the skills around a Navy take years to develop. And an Army is, of course, an equally important capability to have

but especially at that time, our founders were concerned about a standing army in America becoming used as a force of tyranny by a runaway government. Whereas the Navy was understood that as a mercantile republic, we had to have open sea lanes available to keep our businesses running, to keep our economy strong. And as you correctly pointed out,

250 years on, very little has changed. You know, the technology is different, the products are different, but the reality is we have to be able to move products into and out of our marketplace, and so does the rest of the world. And right now, frankly, for the last eight years, the entire global economy has rested on the bedrock of freedom of navigation that sits on the backs of the U.S. Navy. So we have to be ready to defend those interests. And right now, as we've seen in the Red Sea for the past year and a half since October 7th, although it's a small

example of what can happen worldwide. We're very lucky to have the Navy we have, but unfortunately, the Red Sea is a tiny speck on the map compared to the Indo-Pacific region, and we're not ready to spread that capability across the whole region the way China is rapidly pacing towards.

Senator Sheehy, obviously Memorial Day. And because it's Memorial Day, I want to talk to you about what drove you to join the military in the first place. Obviously, it's a volunteer military, which means that the best young men and women in the country are putting aside their own hopes, aspirations, financial dreams for a certain period of time in order to serve the country. What drove you to make that decision in the first place?

Also, my mom says when I was about three years old, I was running around the woods with a stick for a gun. So she said, I don't know why, but you always knew you were going to do it. But it's interesting that there was an image stuck in my head when I was about five years old. We were invading Kuwait during the first Gulf War. And I was sitting on the floor playing with trucks and toys. And it was, you know, the old school CNN back in the early days of 24-hour news.

And I saw this image and it was a night vision video of an American soldier running through the desert and he dropped down on his chest to fire his weapon. And I realized it occurred to me even at that young age at four or five years old, that there was somebody half a world away, uh,

fighting for our country and keeping me safe all the way back home. And even as a small child, I understood that concept that there's somebody deployed overseas in the middle of the night, wearing body armor with a rifle, fighting the fight so that we could be safe back at home. And that concept for me was something that was very powerful. And I said, you know what? I want to be a part of that when I grew up. I want to be the guy on the wall protecting this beautiful way of life that we have. And of course, that stuck with me.

Met my wife at the Naval Academy. We both served. She was a Marine. I was a SEAL. And we spent our 20s deployed all over the world fighting for this country, and we're proud to do it. So it's a really special day. Memorial Day is, of course, Veterans Day is in the fall. Folks, you know, Veterans Memorial Day is focused on those who we've lost, focused on, of course, the memorials that have been built to honor those lives. And there's, again, nothing greater we can do to honor those lives than simply take a few moments to remember that

all the great things we have in this country. We're not perfect. We never have been. We never will be. But this is about the best damn governance experience and experiment that's ever happened in the history of mankind. And frankly, we have to preserve it and protect it. And the only way we can really do that is if we have those people who've who are willing to make that sacrifice all over the world for all of us. So it's a special day. Thanks for taking a moment to honor it for all of us. Now, Senator Sheehy, on Memorial Day, is there anyone in specific that you're thinking about on Memorial Day?

Well, I have these bracelets that we're actually all the time, 24/7. And I used to have one, but as the names have grown over the years, they all carry names of teammates and friends that I lost overseas. And actually, I started wearing these all the time because I realized when I came home from the wars, I did about five deployments all over the world that very few people at home

just didn't think every day. To them, the wars didn't exist. They didn't affect them day to day. And for me, it was very important that we remember those names. So the name I always, at the top of my list, is a guy named Ben Tiffner. He was a special forces captain in the U.S. Army. I actually didn't know Ben that well or for even that long, but he was an early mentor of mine in the special operations community when I was going through ranger training before I became a SEAL. And he was a guy that took the time,

out of his busy schedule to help train me as a young teenager as I became enmeshed in the world of special operations. He didn't have to take the time he took, but he did. And then a few months later, he was killed in Iraq and I was one of the guys that carried him off the plane at Dover Air Force Base when he landed. And that was my first experience was losing somebody I knew closely. I would go on to lose many other folks I knew closely, but you always remember the first and

And that one is Ben. So I wear them every day and think about them on a daily basis. I'll certainly be thinking about this weekend. Well, Senator Sheehy, thanks so much for taking the time. Thank you, of course, for your service. Thanks for what you're doing in the United States Senate. And thanks for taking the time to pay tribute to our fallen heroes on Memorial Day. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Ben.

This is Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. Watch Parenting, available exclusively on Daily Wire Plus. We're dealing with misbehaviors with our son. Our 13-year-old throws tantrums. Our son turned to some substance abuse. Go to dailywireplus.com today.